Momentum
by mikata-chan
Summary: Kadaj loves his mother and will let nothing interfere with the mission. But what happens when a certain clumsy young ninja stumbles onto the scene? YuffieKadaj Rated M for graphic violence and sexual content.
1. Pursuit

Disclaimer : I own nothing, but if Squareenix wanted to give me Yazoo, I'd have no objections...

He peeled the gloves from his hands and tossed them into the stream before him, letting the clean rush of water clean the blood from them. _Clean._ He frowned, splashing his face and ignoring the rank smell of cave water as it flooded his nose. _Nothing is clean on this planet._

Kadaj would think of it every time he inhaled deeply, every time he had to wash up in the nearest stream. Contamination. That's exactly what the whole human race was. The 'stigma' had been referred to as just that, but they were wrong. They didn't understand. Yazoo and Loz were the only ones who did. But sometimes he wondered. Especially about Yazoo.

Yazoo had always been a private, pensive man, closed off even to them. Anything he did, anything he offered of himself was strictly out of necessity. But there were times when he glimpsed a side of him that didn't often show itself. An inquisitive side. Kadaj knew that was trouble, more trouble than even Loz's fixation with women. Kadaj had left it alone for a while, but it got to a point where he had to confront him about it.

"_You can't hide it from me, brother." Kadaj spoke, leaning his weight into the seat of his bike, arms crossed. Yazoo's pale face shone in the night like he had lights under his skin. _

"_What are you on about Kadaj?" _

" _Yazoo, you know I have no patience for games." Kadaj scowled, eyes glowing bright. He had just happened to catch Yazoo returning to their cave, hours after they had all laid down to rest. "Where were you?"_

"_Washing up." _

"_For what reason?" Kadaj frowned when Yazoo laughed._

"_You may like to take the scent of a kill with you to bed, but-"_

"_What? Can't handle a little blood?" Kadaj said, his smile widening. But when the youngest brother smiled, he never looked happy, just...crazy._

"_It stinks, and I feel unclean with it all over me."_

"_Yes, but it can't be any worse than those..." Kadaj searched for the word._

"_Flowers." Yazoo finished. Kadaj suddenly frowned, remembering how he and Loz had nearly choked with the stench of those things. He had later found Yazoo holding a flower to his nose, tossing it after he'd picked it apart. He was undoubtedly a curious man, and that was dangerous. Dangerous because a wandering mind was not a mind focused on mother. Kadaj glared._

"_We're off subject Yazoo. Don't think I don't know what you're doing, I know you brother. I know about your...wanderlust. And there will be a point where I will no longer be able turn a blind eye to it. For your sake, I would stay focused on our reunion." Kadaj smiled again. "Get to bed, Yazoo._"

And then there was Loz, he wasn't so much curious as easily taken with visually striking things.

They were on another mission, out in the town and trying to find out more information. Loz had been talking about something but then he'd suddenly stopped. Yazoo and Kadaj both looked at him, following his gaze to a woman with pale skin and dark red hair. She walked passed them, catching Loz's eye for the slightest of seconds. Yazoo had the same dispassionate mask he always wore but Kadaj was clearly put off. He watched Loz out of the corner of his eye.

"Disgusting." Kadaj said, following the woman with his eyes. At his brother's voice, Loz seemed to come to.

"Kadaj, even you have to admit that-"

"That what?" Kadaj snapped. "Do you think she's _pretty_ Loz?" The oldest remnant was quiet. "Do you think mother would approve?" Loz's face turned a ghostly white.

"No..."

"Apologize to mother."

"What?"

"You heard me."

"That's _enough_ Kadaj." Yazoo said, more than annoyed with Kadaj's bullying.

"This doesn't involve you Yazoo."

"It involves all of us. You don't speak for mother." Kadaj looked taken aback for a moment, but quickly recovered.

"And just how do you justify this disgusting behavior?"

"I don't."

"But obviously, Loz can. Tell me, Loz? Did mother tell you to look at that trash? Is it part of some new special plan I don't know about? Has she talked to _you_ lately?" Loz moved his eyes to the ground.

"No."

"Then say your sorry." Kadaj's smile was cruel.

"This is not necessary." Yazoo cut in. Kadaj did not know when to stop. He was always acting superior because mother spoke to him the most. And if that wasn't enough, there was the vaguely stronger connection to Sephiroth.

"Fine, I'm leaving. Feel free to ogle as much trash as you desire. At least mother has one loyal son." With that he sped off on his motorcycle, missing Loz's quiet apology to their mother. In his time alone, Kadaj calmed down a bit. It helped that he stumbled upon a cache of materia. He stopped by the local bar, one of the options he hardly ever took. Despite the tone, it was a good place to gather information. But what he saw when he walked in completely destroyed his calm.

Loz was seated at the bar, chatting it up with the same woman that had caught his eye. She giggled when he whispered something in her ear. Kadaj grabbed a table in the corner and watched the scene with disgust, scheming. He had never really thought about any human like that. He didn't understand how any of them could be thought beautiful. From the fragments of memories he could recall, he could see his own mother. That was the only beautiful thing he had ever seen. It was part of the reason Kadaj felt that Loz's love of women was a betrayal.

He was so angry, he missed the young ninja who tumbled through the door. She looked around, her eyes finally settling on her target. He'd stolen her materia and she wanted it back. But once she was settled down, he got up, following far behind a red-headed woman who was making her way to the restroom.

Kadaj found the woman reapplying her lipstick, smiling into the mirror and humming to herself, blissfully unaware of his presence. Kadaj's footsteps were silent as he slowly crept up behind her. She jumped when she saw him behind her in the mirror, but his hand was over her mouth before she could scream and he smiled in the mirror at her terrified expression.

"This is your time. You should have stayed away, whore." One thrust of the sword, and she was a bloody lifeless heap at his feet. He escaped out of the window, not wanting to attract attention to himself.

So here he was, washing the blood out of his hair. Yazoo wasn't yet home and neither was Loz. A couple of minutes passed before he heard footsteps approaching. They were fast and uncertain and definitely not belonging to either of his brothers.

Suddenly a girl appeared at the cave entrance. She was breathing heavily, resting her hands on her knees. She was skinny, and in his opinion, rather unremarkable. Yuffie tried to talk through her gasps for air.

"Y..you...st..stole..my...materia!" She pointed a finger at him. "Give it back!" Kadaj said nothing, he only unsheathed his sword, ready to make the second kill that night.

(A/N: This plot has been on my mind for a while. So, I decided to write it out of my mind. I've never attempted a Kadaj/Yuffie before, so I'd appreciate if you told me what you think. Till next time!)


	2. Getting Acquainted

She had only meant to spend one night in the small hotel. All she wanted to do was get to Edge, where she could have a quick visit with Tifa and the gang. Maybe stop by Vincent's house and bother him a little. Maybe ask him why his _still _didn't answer her calls. But no, instead she gets lost.

"Excuse me sir!" She tapped on the glass cubicle encasing a teenage boy who was oblivious to her attempts to catch his attention, most likely due to the huge headphones swallowing his head. "Hey!" She was banging on the glass now, she hated it when people didn't pay attention to her. "Hey!" He looked up at this, narrowing his eyes before pulling his headphones off of his ears. He spit out his gum and moved to the microphone.

"That's a mighty loud voice for a tiny thing like you." She put her hands on her hips indignantly.

"I'm probably older than you, asshole." She mumbled. Moving towards the microphone on her side of the glass she spoke into it. "Can you make yourself useful and give me some directions?"

" You lost?" The boy looked as if he was enjoying himself, Yuffie on the other hand was not.

"Don't make me-"

"What? Call your mommy on me?" Yuffie was fuming, she would not be mocked by some punk!

"Do you know who you're talking to!? I'm the great ninja Yuffie!"

"Wow." he said flatly.

"That's right wow!" She stomped her foot. "I'd kick your butt so fast that you wouldn't know what hit you! Why don't you come out from behind the glass and talk to me like a man, smart guy!" She pressed her forehead up against the glass, narrowing her eyes at him. Did everyone in this town have to be so damn difficult!? All she wanted were directions to Midgar. She banged on the glass again. "Hey! Hey! You listening!"

"Step away from the glass miss."

"Tell me how to get to Midgar and I might consider it." The man looked around.

"But I don't see a...don't tell me..." He laughed. "You...you're traveling on foot!?" He laughed again. She frowned.

"Well, yeah..."

"Good luck with that, Midgar is about an eternity away from here!" Yuffie didn't want to go into why she always traveled on foot. At the moment the issue of her motion sickness probably wouldn't be the best thing to bring up considering he already didn't take her seriously.

"Just tell me where it is!" She banged on the glass with both of her fists, and the man scowled.

"Okay, step away from the glass or I'll have no choice but to call in security."

"Do it then, you coward!"

"Please step away from the-"

"No!" She smacked the glass. "What are you going to do about this! Huh?!" She smacked the glass again. "Or this!" She smiled deviously. He didn't know who he was messing with. "Come out you...hey!" She was interrupted as she was grabbed from behind, feeling herself being moved away from the cubicle. She fought hard, removing her self from the iron grip a couple of times only to be recaptured again. She landed a couple of punches in the man's face, knocking him backwards, only to see another security guard rushing her way. She grinned, secretly proud that they needed backup. No siree! She would not be an easy catch. The second security guard took her into a bear hug hold but she managed to knee him in the groin. He fell to the ground groaning and she saw her chance to run. She took off, her surroundings just blurs speeding past until she came to a sign. _Dead end._

"Dammit!" She cursed looking for a way out. But there were none and soon she found herself recaptured. They dragged her away and she gave them a hard time all the while, kicking and punching and making it almost impossible for them to maintain their firm hold on her. They finally stopped, tossing her onto her butt into what looked like a landfill. They closed the gate and turned away, ignoring her loud protests. She got up and started wandering around, but in less than five minutes she was again on her butt. She looked around to try and find what she'd tripped over and what she saw made her mouth fall wide open.

"Materia!" It was one shining orb sitting on the dirt. She picked it up and her eyes lit up, overjoyed at her findings. She dug a small hole under where she'd first seen it and was delighted to find more. After that day she'd been coming back and forth to the landfill, uncovering more and more materia, her trip on hold and her money whittling down with each passing day. But today she would be approaching the landfill to do as she did for the past two days only there would be someone else. The first thought that passed through her mind was if she'd hidden her stash of materia well enough. The second was that the intruder had silver hair, just like Sephiroth's...it was for that reason that she'd stayed hidden, just watching him.

He looked like he was throwing a fit. He kicked his motorcycle and Yuffie eyes widened when the strange hunk of metal slid away from him. She was shocked that such power could come from a boy of his stature and build. He walked in the opposite direction of where he'd kicked the bike, speaking to himself in a string of incoherent whispers. She just couldn't help herself and she moved up, hoping to get a closer look or perhaps hear more of what he was saying. She moved to hide behind a pile of garbage, being as quiet as she could. But he suddenly turned around and for the first time she got a good look at his face. His features were reminiscent of Sephiroth but still all his own. Clearly he was younger, possibly as old as she was.

He came closer and Yuffie froze, thinking she'd been spotted. But he suddenly stopped, his eyes glazed over and muscles taut. Yuffie readied herself to run. But after about two minutes of this he only turned away and she heard him speak clearly for the first time.

"Yes, mother." And then he left, hopping back on his motorcycle and driving off. He disappeared from sight but not before seeing a sack,_ her_ sack of materia zoom away with him on his bike.

"No...no! Wait!" That little bastard stole her materia! Everything she felt just moments before was down the drain, now replaced by a blinding anger. She did _not_ spend practically all of her time and money just to have it end in vain. It was then she knew what she had to do. She had to catch that silver-haired creep and reclaim what was rightfully hers! And so here she was, trying to get some sort of air into her lungs, before the butt kicking commenced. Kadaj started to slide his sword out of it's holster but decided against it at the last minute. He wouldn't need it, well he really never did, but with this girl was such a tiny little thing he thought he might enjoy taking her apart. She could come apart in his hands just like a little bird, fallen from the nest. With tiny fragile little bones.

"I want my materia back." She stood tall. breathing returning back to normal.

"Your...oh. That was _your_ materia was it?" He started to close in on her.

"Yeah! It was! And you stole it, and I want it back."

"We don't always get what we want human."

"What_ever_, I just want my materia alright?" His increasing proximity started to unnerve her but she went on anyway. "Give it back, and I won't have to hurt you." She said, only for him laugh.

"Hurt me? That's a new one. Usually by now, they are smart enough to start begging for mercy."

"They?" Her voice shook and she wanted to kick herself for it.

"Anyone in your place, anyone about to die." He came to stand in front of her. She was shaking.

"Uh...maybe you misunderstood me..."

"I think I understand fine." he took one step forward and she took one step back.

"Can't we talk about this?..."

"I'm done talking. I'm going to do something more...fun."

"Oh gaia, you're not some kind of sex pervert are you?" He seemed to be taken aback, and in that split second there was a black cloud in place of the ninja, that seemed to billow out like a parachute filling the entire cavern. Kadaj squinted when his eyes started to burn, moving in the direction she'd run off to. At any other time he might have been thrilled by the prospect of a chase, but now he was more annoyed than anything.

He was almost out of that particular part of the cave when he heard movement behind him, which was strange since he could've sworn she's run out. There was a rustling in the corner, and he realized she was still in the cavern with him. _So she thinks she's sly._ When his eyes started to adjust he could see her scrambling around, undoubtedly searching for her materia.

"Does it really mean that much to you?" he said. He heard her gasp but she didn't say anything. "It might have worked human, you could have run, saved your life." The way she was moving he could tell that she was trying to move around him. He could tell she had just assumed he couldn't see in the dark either. Even if he couldn't, the cloud she'd cast was lifting and she kept on stopping for dropped orbs of materia. In the fading darkness he marveled at her clumsiness, but could hardly believe her gall. Or rather...stupidity. After watching her drop a few more orbs he'd seen enough.

He reached out and grabbed her arm and she shrieked as all of the materia bobbles fell to ground in a musical clatter.

"That was so embarrassing, I even considered letting you go."

"You haven't seen anything yet, I am the Great Ninja Y-" Kadaj rubbed his temples.

"Enough." His hands ventured to her shoulders, her neck, her bones were just like he'd imagined. "So fine. So easy..."

"Um...what?"

"I'm going to make you quiet now." At that Yuffie knew she was in trouble. "So scream as long as you can." he laughed and she struggled, trying her best to push him away. Her black cloud had almost completely dissipated and she could see the look in his eyes. For the first time she realized that crazy could be scary. Really scary. But suddenly they were interrupted by two others.

"What's going on in here? Yazoo, look at what Kadaj has." Loz said, coming forward. The two brothers came in, clearly fresh from the outside.

"I see."

"Are you going to kill her Kadaj?"

"Holy crap, there's three of you!" Yuffie said, shocked.

"How did she get in here?" Yazoo asked, crossing his arms.

"Will you all just shut up?" Kadaj yelled. Gaia, was it so hard to have some time to savor the kill?

"Yeah Kadaj, you said-"

"I said, shut up" Kadaj took a breath. "Did you gather any information?" He looked at Loz, knowing where he'd been. But Yazoo, where had he been?

"None. This town is useless for our cause." Yazoo said. Kadaj raised an eyebrow. Yuffie tried to pry his hand off of her throat, pretty sure her face was turning blue.

"You've gathered nothing on Strife?" Yuffie's eyes shot wide open.

"What do you want with Cloud?!" Kadaj immediately let go of her and she broke out into a coughing fit. Suddenly everyone was looking at her. Kadaj advanced on her, drawing his sword, pointing at her throat.

"What do you know about Strife?" Yuffie gulped. Maybe she shouldn't have done that. Now she was sure they had a connection to Sephiroth. "I'll only ask one more time. What do you know?" She looked around nervously.

"Uh did I say Cloud? I meant fog. Yeah fo- " Kadaj sneered and moved forward. The girl was obviously useless and extremely irritating to boot, all reasons to kill her.

"Kadaj, stop." Kadaj stilled, hoping Yazoo had a damn good reason for the interruption. Yuffie looked at the other brother, wanting to thank him. She smiled, but he paid her no mind.

"What is it, Yazoo?" He said, annoyed.

"She knows something. I don't think it would be wise to kill her. She is not willing to talk now, but there are other ways." Yuffie's smiled faltered. Maybe she should rethink her thankyou's.

"I see."

"We should keep her with us, she could be an asset." Yazoo hoped that this time Kadaj would forget about his foolish pride and be smart. They were getting no where and this girl obviously knew something.

Kadaj sheathed his sword and sighed, dissatisfied. Why did Yazoo have to be so damn sensible? But he did have to admit, getting to mother was more important than his thirst for blood. Yuffie took the chance to escape, running as fast as she could. But she didn't get far because she ran into what felt like a...brick wall? But of course it wasn't. It was the last brother, who quickly grabbed her arms in a iron grip. He was muscular and tall, mostly all hard angles. He promptly picked her up and set her down in the corner. She tried to get out of his grip but he was just too strong for her. He grabbed some rope from off of the ground and bound her to the pipes in the corner. The ropes were tight and thick and Yuffie knew she wouldn't be going anywhere for a while.

"I'm not telling you anything! I don't care what you do!"

"Yazoo, do we have anything we can use for a gag?" Kadaj said, annoyed. If he had to hear her mouth one more time... Yazoo came back with a ratty piece of cloth and Yuffie blanched. He was going to put that, in her mouth!?

"What do you think you're doing? Don't you dare! I-" She was cut off by the gag, and she felt Yazoo knot it at the back of her head. Loz smiled at her and lounged on his sleeping bag. Yazoo said nothing to her and just turned his back on her, joining Loz on the floor among the sleeping bags. Kadaj stood in front of her, scowling.

"Tomorrow, you will talk." he walked away to his own sleeping bag on the cave floor. Yuffie sighed into her gag, this day sucked, but she wasn't going to let it get to her. They could do all they wanted to her but if they thought this was going to be easy, they were dead wrong.

(A/N: Thank you so much fro the reviews! I finally finished this chapter! I'm starting to get a feel of how I'm gonna work this Kadaj/Yuffie out. I'd like to know what y'all think as always. Until next time.)


	3. Almost

Yuffie waited until she was sure they were asleep, thankful that they hadn't checked her for weapons. Even if her ninja stars were hardly detectable. Perhaps their underestimation of her had worked to her advantage and she was grateful none of them had seen her slip a ninja star into her hand for later use. Yuffie stifled a giggle at her craftiness, careful not to wake them up. She could celebrate later. Tifa just wouldn't believe her! And she would just have to gloat to Cid and Barrett! But she put those plans aside for another time and quickly got to work on breaking out of the bindings. She worked the ninja star back and forth against the ropes as carefully and quietly as she could and soon she was free.

She untied the gag from around her head and threw the dirty rag to the floor, wanting very much to wash her mouth out with some sort of disinfectant. Standing up quietly, she immediately fell backwards onto the cave wall, her limbs too cramped to hold up. She pushed herself off of the wall and stretched her achy limbs out. She frowned and pulled herself together, feeling her way around by the cave walls. She moved faster, determined to get out. As her hands moved quickly across the jagged surface of the cave wall she began to lose focus at the prospect of escape. Because of this she didn't see the huge boulder she was fast approaching. Suddenly she found herself toppling face first to the ground.

She yelled as she hit the ground, quickly covering her mouth, laying as still a she could, listening to her exclamation echo throughout the cave. She mentally cursed at her slip up. She heard some shifting in the corner and she held her breath, finally letting it out when the shifting ceased. She got up quietly and continued with her escape plan. Once she finally reached the way out she started to walk out but froze midstep.

The Materia!

She stood there for a moment weighing her possible choices. As always the materia won. She headed back into the cave, still roughly remembering where the boy had put her sack of materia. She moved to the right of the band of sleeping brothers, into the corner where she was sure the bag of materia lay.

Sure enough, a faint glow came into view and she sighted the bag, snatching it up and making her way out of the cave. After she was out she ran as fast as she could to get to the primary cave entrance. It was deathly quiet, except for occasional crunch of her feet against the rocks scattered across the ground, the wind whipping past her ears and her own rapid heartbeat. Three monstrous motorbikes came into view and she knew she was home free. The mouth of the cave stood just in front of the vehicles, a frame to the dark blue sky outside. A buttery crescent moon was the only source of light and Yuffie guessed that it had to be almost dawn.

But she couldn't leave just yet. She knelt down beside one of the bikes, searching for something. She checked the other one and found nothing. She moved onto the next bike and found just what she needed. A phone. She fumbled to flip open the phone, her nerves finally getting to her. The chance to escape was a few feet away and she knew she had to make it quick. She dialed the number with clumsy fingers and put the phone up to her ear, willing the slow rhythmic rings to speed up.

"Come on come on!" she whispered impatiently.

"Hello?" came the drowsy but gruff answer, and Yuffie let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding.

"Cid?" She kept her voice to a whisper.

"Who the hell is this?" He snapped.

"It's Yuffie, I can't talk long I-"

"Do you know what fuckin time it is?"

"I know, I know but-"

"Call me later kid, I'm sure it can wait."

"Cid, could you shut up for one moment? It's important."

"Fine, but make it quick."

"There's three guys looking for him, warn Cloud okay? I think they've got something to do with Sephiroth, they-"

" You on drugs? Sephiroth's dead remember?"

"You've gotta believe me! If only you could see them, it's so freaky. I don't know, maybe they're his sons or something."

"Sons?" Cid said disbelievingly.

"It's just a guess, but it makes sense doesn't it? They probably want revenge on Cloud for killing their father." Yuffie's imagination ran wild. "But whatever it is, just tell him okay? Cloud should know."

"Fine, I'll try to get it to him. Happy now?"

"Ecstatic, thanks Grandpa."

"But if I find out this is just some bullshit drug induced phone call, I swear..." Yuffie smiled, in his own way Cid cared about her. She'd have to tease him about it some other time though.

"I got it, bye." A click on the other line signaled his hang up and she flipped the phone closed. She went to get up but immediately sank back on her haunches when she heard movement at the mouth of the cave. She carefully looked from behind her hiding place behind the bike to see the brother who had saved her life standing at the mouth of the cave. Her heart picked up the pace as he came closer to her hiding spot and she mentally chastised herself for not making the phone call shorter.

Fortunately he walked right past her into and she was glad when she saw him disappear into the second section of the cave. What was he doing out of bed anyway? Yuffie got out of her hiding spot and ran as fast as she could, but she was stopped in her tracks by a voice in back of her. She quickly stepped back into the nearest dark corner, hoping she hadn't been seen.

"Yes, mother, I know he is." Kadaj came into view. He sat down on the ground, leaning back against the cave wall. "I told him so. He actually likes the humans." Kadaj picked up a rock and let it roll in and out of the grooves between his fingers. "Yazoo keeps to himself, more than he used to." Kadaj dropped the rock. "I've warned him." Yuffie stared at the silver haired boy from out of the shadows. Who the heck was he talking to? _'That guy is seriously whacked'_ she thought. Kadaj let his head fall back against the wall. So often he would be awoken from a slumber by his mother. She was never happy. No matter how hard he tried, she wasn't pleased. He liked to think that he was perfect, because she commanded perfection. But every time he'd feel a presence that wasn't his in his body or entertain a thought that was clearly not of his mind he remembered. He remembered that he could never be truly perfect, not next to _him_.

But when he finally achieved the reunion, there would be question who the most dedicated son was. And he would have mother. Everything he did now, every bit of pain he suffered, every sleepless night, it was all worth it.

Still, he wondered how they were going to go about bringing back Sephiroth. He had asked his mother but she'd ignored the question every time. He felt the presence of his elder brother inside of him, so most likely the resurrection had something to do with him. And if it did, what would happen to him when the time came to resurrect Sephiroth?He was brought out of his musings when his mother spoke again.

"_You 've no process to speak of. I tire of waiting, I've done so much of that."_

" We have at least acquired a knew way of finding Strife."

"_I know. Although I cannot say I approve of your methods, all she will do is cause distraction. However, if you failed with all the other possible ways..." _Kadaj grit his teeth.

"It isn't my fault this town was a dead end. I work tirelessly for the reunion and I'll do what I have to with the girlto get answers."

"_Do not forget who you talk to son. You have made minimal progress and that is not acceptable. Perhaps this reunion is too heavy a burden for you?"_

"No mother. I apologize mother." he said through clenched teeth. He felt his mother's presence leave his mind and he stood up, worn out. Yuffie had watched the whole thing from the dark corner. A part of her could see something was wrong and she wanted to help, but a smarter part of her knew to stay away. She had thought he was weird, but this was bordering on psychotic. She _had_ to get out now. It was either that or get stuck with a nutjob. An attractive nutjob, but a nutjob nonetheless.

A hand on her wrist quickly brought her out of her thoughts. Kadaj brought her out of the corner and looked her in the eye. Yuffie tried to pry his hand off of her wrist, but it was no use. She looked back at him. Was he going to kill her? She didn't say anything, slightly afraid that she would say something to completely set him off.

"If you try running again, I'll kill you. I don't care what you know." Yuffie caught the tired edge in his threat and noticed that his unusual eyes didn't seem as bright as they usually were. As he led her back to where they were all staying he wondered if this really was agood idea at all. He found some new rope and tied her back into place. Yuffie made no move to fight or plans to run away at the moment. He was too strong and now alert to her intentions.

Damn. She had blown it. After Kadaj finished the last knot he went to get up but stopped himself. He knelt back down and they were eye to eye.

"What's your name?" Yuffie figured she would answer, thinking she might send him into some psychotic meltdown if she didn't. But she would have to get something out of it too.

"I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours." her indigo gaze didn't falter and Kadaj frowned. She was a difficult one. And if he wanted to get to bed anytime soon, he might as well tell her.

"Kadaj." He said curtly.

"Kadaj? What kind of name is that?" He was silent.

"Your name." he demanded, more than asked.

"Yuffie." He nodded, feeling as if that name were somehow familiar.

"Sleep pleasantly Yuffie."

(A/N: I had actually planned on writing much more than this, but I'll save it for the next chapter.

Thank you all so much for the reviews! I love getting feedback, even if it's harsh constructive crit. Expect a lot more interaction between the characters in the next chapter. But nothing dirty...yet. Until next time.)


	4. Kinetic

The morning sun filtered in through fissures in the cavern, lighting the chilly darkness she'd spent the night in. In between wakefulness and sleep, she thought about her palace, her bed with the silk covers, her silk jammies with the gold and the red, like early fall in Wutai.

"_I can't stand you sometimes!" Yuffie hollered as one of the handmaids scurried to take her arm, tried to shush her. She ripped her arm away. "You would rather marry me off and make me disappear, and be one of those...those mutes that don't do anything but look pretty." Godo was silent, indifferent even as he frowned from his place across the room. _

"_Aren't you going to say anything dad?"_

Yuffie awoke violently at the touch of hands that were not her own. Her eyes shot open and she saw the oldest of the brothers, untying her.

"Where's Kadaj?" she said sleepily, not quite sure how she remembered his name and why that would be the first thing out of her mouth.

"Cleaning up." Loz stopped, looked at her. "You can too if you want." She looked at him incredulously.

"I'm not taking my clothes off around any of you." she said crossing her newly freed arms. He shrugged, finished untying her. "Are you going to let me go now?"

"No." he laughed.

"I'm not talking. No matter what you do. So it's useless to keep me here."

"If you don't talk, Kadaj will kill you." He said, straightfaced. "But he might kill you quickly if you do talk." Yuffie's mouth fell open.

"Oh, well that makes it _completely_ different then..." she sulked. "Are you at least going to serve me breakfast?"

"Breakfast?"

"Uh yeah, the meal you eat in the morning..." He laughed at her.

"I haven't eaten in a week." he said to her, shaking his head. "There are vermin around here if you're really hungry." Yuffie looked at him wide-eyed. He was serious. He was actually serious.

"You know, I think I pass on that. Thanks." Yuffie heard Kadaj's footsteps before she saw him.

"Loz, now is not the time or place to make friends. Go guard our bikes." Yuffie was surprised by how Kadaj spoke to his older brother, and more surprised that Loz simply complied without complaint. She didn't know why she didn't realize it before but Kadaj seemed to be the one in charge. "Good morning, human." He smiled as she tried to get up, her cramped muscles making a it a difficult and rather embarrassing affair. Finally she stood against the wall, looking for any way out she could find.

"Human?" she frowned, more in confusion. _What's with that?_

"That_ is_ what you are." He said as if she might not have known herself. She dusted herself off.

"I want out of here, _now_." She said crossing her arms, pouting.

"I don't think you und-" he suddenly lost his train of thought when a sharp pain shot through his head. In what couldn't have been more than ten seconds, he saw a barrage of images pass before his eyes. Trees with pink flowers, soldiers dying, screaming for their mothers, and aged man with almond shaped eyes, a little girl by his side with the exact same eyes._.. _he didn't understand any of it. When he came to, Yuffie was standing where she'd been before he'd blacked out.

"You don't think I understand...what? I'm dying to know." her heard her say through his daze. He grit his teeth against the pain. Mother? No, he knew better than that. That had been something else. Someone else. Those particular flashes in his head happened every so often, and the first time it had happened it had resulted in the his very first kill. There had been a woman in a white coat on the street near dusk, and he didn't remember anything after that, just being covered in blood afterwards, and of course that white coat which did not remain that color for very long.

"Hey, stop ignoring me!" Yuffie said, so _through _with him already.

"Quiet." his hands shook and he smoothed his hair back just so he would have some place to put them. "Quiet." he said again, breathing deeply.

"I'll be quiet wh-"

"Kadaj!" Both teens looked up, to see Loz come running into the room.

"_What."_ Kadaj snapped.

"Yazoo's gone." Kadaj wasn't sure why he wasn't surprised, but he was seething regardless. Who did he think he was? What could possibly be so important that he would hold them up in their mission for reunion? _Nothing_ was more important than that.

"Find him Loz, and be quick about it. If you haven't found him by tonight, I will look for him. And if I find him, I'm going to have a few words with him."

"Kadaj..." they started moving towards their bikes, Kadaj burning a path through the cave with Yuffie's wrist firmly in his hand.

"This can't go on Loz. Mother is waiting and we cannot afford to be distracted by anything! Nothing, is more important than mother! Nothing." Kadaj was wild eyed and Loz didn't try to calm him down, he only got on his own bike and drove away. Hoping to find Yazoo, and get some sense into him before, Kadaj could go about it by his own methods.

After watching Loz drive away, Kadaj pushed Yuffie ahead of him towards the bike.

"Get on." Yuffie went to say something but stopped herself figuring it wasn't the best time to argue. She got on the motorbike and he got on in front of her. He took off without warning and she nearly flew off of the back.

"You could have warned me!" Kadaj looked over his shoulder and then looked ahead again.

"Shut up and hold on." Yuffie blushed.

"You mean, onto your waist?"

"That would be the ideal place." He sighed, wanted very much to rid himself of her. But Yazoo had been right, they didn't have any leads. The girl could be useful. Something in him didn't really believe that though.

"But...that would be weird. I barely even know you." She said as the bike continued to speed down the road.

"Whatever you decide to do, I would do it. Because if you fall off I'm not going back for you."

"Fine, but I'm not enjoying it or anything." she said reluctantly wrapping her arms around his waist. He was warmer than she thought he'd be, and she unconsciously scooted closer to that warmth. A long silence passed and Kadaj tensed after Yuffie had become more relaxed. The feel of her body against his back was strange, and he felt a little disgusting with her being so close to him. She was soft, soft like...well he didn't exactly know. He didn't care to place it, but it wouldn't completely leave his mind, especially after she let her head rest at his shoulder for a few beats. He wasn't used to any kind of interaction like this and he found himself uncomfortable.

"What are you doing?" he said, suspicious. He heard her moan.

"I think I'm going to be sick." Her head lolled back before it came to rest at his shoulder again. She started to squeeze him so tightly around the middle it was becoming harder to breathe. He didn't know how that much strength had come from those skinny arms.

"What are you doing?" he asked again, glancing back at her ashen face.

"Ughhhh. I'm gonna...stop the bike...please.." Her arms started to fall slack.

"No. I will not allow any more distractions." Even as he said this, looking back at her he wasn't sure what was happening. She looked like she might just die.

"I'm...spinning...gonna...throw up..."

"You're _what?_" The hell she was going to do that, he didn't care if she died, but she was not going to do that. He reluctantly brought the bike to a stop. She tumbled off and onto the ground. She was shaking and too close to his bike for comfort. Picking her up by the waist he dumped her into the nearby brush.

"This better not be another attempt to esca-" he was suddenly interrupted by the lovely sound of her tossing her cookies. He turned away, having seen enough. He could handle gore, but that was just...disgusting. After five minutes of it he turned back in her direction. "Are you done yet?"

"I'll be done when I'm done. Bastard." she said after another dry heave.

"I didn't have to stop for you human."

"You only stopped so I wouldn't yak on you, so quit your bitching. You're not covered in barf, so be happy." He curled his lip.

"Who do you think you're talking to?"

"Oh, shove it." she said, wiping the sweat from her face, and looking away from his general direction. There was a part of her that was kind of happy she had created such an inconvenience for him, and another part that was completely mortified she had just ralphed in front of an attractive guy. Kadaj narrowed his eyes, wanting to teach her a little lesson, but not wanting to have to touch her. Another five minutes and Yuffie was able to stand up, though still clearly weak. "I'm done now." She tried to maintain as much dignity as she could. Kadaj thrust his canteen in her face.

"Wash your mouth out." She frowned, but took it.

"Thanks." her face burned. After doing that, she handed it back to him but he refused.

"Keep it. Come on, let's go."

"You can't actually expect me to get back on that bike."

" Just close your eyes or something."

"Wow, why didn't I think of that? Oh wait, I did! And it doesn't work, surprise, surpr-" Kadaj drew his sword.

"I don't want you on this bike any more than you do, but I will do what I have to do to get to Strife and you are going to be the one to lead me there. Do you understand?" Yuffie looked at his sword and nodded angrily. "Get on the bike."

"Fine, we're going to Bacchor." Yuffie knew the town and already recognized how to get there from the point they were at.

"Bacchor."

"Yup, Cloud's supposed to be there for a bit, get stuff for deliveries or something." the lie came out so good she almost fooled herself. The hell she was leading Kadaj to Cloud. She would just have to play along until she saw a way out of this nightmare.

They got back on the bike and Yuffie gave clear decisive directions. She was immensely impressed with herself. Soon they were driving down a dirt road lined with orange paper lanterns hanging on tall poles. The atmosphere seemed to warm instantly and she smiled. Kadaj subconsciously slowed the speed of the motorbike, curious about the puffy paper lanterns.

"You like them? They remind me of Wutai."

"Wutai." It was strange and familiar all at once.

"It's where I grew up. The lanterns there are the genuine article. No imitation could even come close. But these aren't bad."

"We've wasted enough time. Are you sure this is the place?"

"Positive." she said. It took all of her self control not to laugh. She'd been to the village before and it was like a party every day. The party stopped in the wee hours of the morning and then late in the afternoon it would start up again. The shops were extravagant as well as the people. It was the perfect place to have some fun and get Kadaj to loosen up. Yuffie smiled, wondering if she would just end up annoying him, but then again, that was just as good.

They continued on and the sound of music started to get louder the closer they got to the village. Yuffie figured the party must have just started. They passed a sign reading : Welcome to the Village of Bacchor! And were immediately met by a trio of scantily clad women who threw something like glitter on them the moment they entered. Kadaj scowled and looked at the young ninja over his shoulder.

"You better not be lying."

"Would I lie to you?" Kadaj stayed quiet, seething. "Park the motorbike, the paths from here on a only good by foot." Kadaj did as she said, now a little suspicious. Once they started out on foot, they encountered quite a bit. Girls with overly rouged cheeks and even redder lips danced around in thin flouncing skirts, singing and laughing. Men with booming voices walked on tall stilts, some even danced on them. Other men walked around with white clown faces and big painted grins. Kadaj looked at Yuffie accusingly.

"Isn't it awesome!?" Kadaj looked at her like she was crazy.

"What the hell is this?"

"Why, this is the place of magic!" A voice said from behind them. They turned around to see a woman with brown skin and a smile so big it was almost manic. Her skirts jingled as she approached them. "Here in Bacchor it's magic, night and day and nothing else." Finally her dark eyes fell on Kadaj.

"I think the proper word is idiocy." He remarked.

"Oh, a sour apple. Girls!" She clapped and Five girls seemed to materialize out of no where. They ranged from blond to brunette, each wearing the same exuberant getup. They immediately flocked around Kadaj. Pushing Yuffie rather violently away from him.

"Oh so pretty!"

"Your hair!"

"You're so handsome!"

"Do you have a girl?"

"Is that natural?" Kadaj didn't know what to do. Scowling, he began to draw his sword. Seeing the glint of steel Yuffie pried her way through the barricade of girls, panicked. She didn't want to be the cause of a mass homicide.

"Hey I think that's enough." She tried to shoo the girls away.

"He'll tell us when he wants us to go." the redheaded one said, batting her eyelashes at the remnant. Yuffie shook her head.

"He's mute. He can't tell you anything. And he's deaf. So yeah, you're out of luck." Yuffie shrugged. Kadaj played along, wondering if she would succeed in her obvious attempt to save their lives.

"But didn't we just hear him talk?" the brunette said.

"Nope. No you didn't." The blonde made to approach him but Yuffie grabbed her arm.

"I wouldn't do that. He has a horribly disgusting contagious disease, and he's in a committed relationship."

"A committed relationship." The blonde asked. Yuffie looked on incredulously. Didn't they even hear the horribly disgusting contagious disease part? Really now, Kadaj wasn't so pretty he could make them that senseless. Yuffie looked at him. Or maybe he was.

"Yeah, a committed relationship." _With his mother._

"I think you just want him for yourself." Yuffie nearly gagged. These girls were relentless. She propped her hands up on her hips.

"Fine, stay if you want. But He'll kill you. He'll kill all of you." Her seriousness must've translated into her words because they all traded strange looks and promptly started off in the opposite direction. Yuffie started to really think about it, leading him to this village. Probably not one of her best ideas. But her own welfare had always taken the first priority, and she continued to look for a way out. She spotted a large crowd forming up ahead. Bingo.

"Let's go, he's gotta be up there." Kadaj followed, already feeling that she was up to something, that she hadn't been truthful. They were heading towards the music and Kadaj had the strong urge to plug his ears.

"How much longer?" he yelled over the music, but he got no response. She had just been in front of him...! He looked around and she was no where to be found.

Her route took her to a dark club, where the air was thick and all of the music was dance-able. She sat down at the counter and the bartender came over.

"What'll it be?"

"Anything strong."

"Will do." The bartender walked away to fix her order.

"Of all people to encounter." A voice at the side of her started. She turned around quickly, meeting the eyes of someone she really hadn't expected to see.

"Yazoo?"

(A/N: I honestly feel weird having chapters this long. But I had to do it. I'm having so much fun with this and I can't tell you how much all of your reviews mean. Stay tuned to find out what's ahead for Kadaj and Yuffie. And why Yazoo is in a club.. But yeah, I will be back with the next chapter and until then, Adios.)


	5. Traction

"Yazoo?" Yuffie asked, amazed. "Wha..what are you doing here?" Yazoo seemed to consider her before turning to look at his own drink, which looked untouched. Rainbow strobe lights moved in sync with the dance music, casting bits multicolored light across the dark muggy club and Yuffie started to feel a little dizzy. Still waiting for him to answer she tapped her fingers on the counter, aggravated by his silence.

"You know, it's rude not to answer people's questions!" Yuffie finally said. Yazoo looked back at her, not looking the least bit concerned.

"Is it?" He asked, turning back to his drink, as if he didn't care whether she responded or not.

"Yeah, it is." she said, looking at him. He said nothing in return.

Yuffie sighed, it was useless. She was startled when her drink was placed in front of her, but she readily took it, sipping the strong alcohol through her straw.

"You're so _strange_..." She said.

"And you are unnecessarily loud."

"At least I can form full sentences..." To her surprise, Yazoo chuckled. She wasn't sure what to make of it. What had she said that was so funny? Was his chuckling a sign that she should run, in case he was just having a laugh before he pulled out his gun and murdered her in cold blood?

And then again, maybe the drink was going to her head. However, she still eyed his weapon warily, only to be snapped out of her thoughts when he actually started to talk.

"If I talked would you actually listen?" He was looking ahead and she was betting it wasn't really a question at all. But she had to say something.

"Sure I would." Yuffie sipped some more. "And you still haven't answered my question."

"You would not." He wasn't even looking at her as he talked and he continued to fiddle with the tiny umbrella.

"I wouldn't what?"

"Listen. And do you know why?"

"Why?"

"Because you are human."

"Hey, that's not fair. You don't even know me!"

"I don't have to."

"Well, that makes you a racist!"

"Label me if you must, but it changes nothing about the human race."

"What's wrong with the human race?"

"If only I had all the time in the world. And even that expanse might not provide adequate time to answer."

"Humans aren't that bad, you drama queen." Yuffie said, suddenly feeling a little lightheaded. Maybe she shouldn't be drinking...

"It isn't as if I expect you to understand. How do you see your own selfishness?"

"Selfishness?"

"When you are only concerned with yourself, you don't bother listening to others. Maybe I do not always...form full sentences, as you put it, but it is not about brevity, it is about futility."

"Wait, what?" What in the hell was he talking about?

"To put it simply, I do not like wasting my words. With humans it all falls on deaf ears, ears deafened by their selfish nature. So why talk? Especially when there is hardly anything meaningful to talk about."

"You sure had a lot to say about _this_."

"Yes, but it was worth talking about. It was worth bringing you to understanding." _Wow, condescending much?_

"You're the one who doesn't understand anything."

"Maybe." He took a drink from his glass and set it down. The loud pounding dance music filled their silence.

"Hey, you. Come dance with me." Yuffie looked over to see a burly man had placed a large hand on Yazoo's shoulder. Yazoo reached for his gun and Yuffie 's eyes widened.

He had to admit that coming to a such a seedy place hadn't been one of his brighter ideas. But his curiosity was insatiable. Since their births mother had been educating them on their purpose, she'd told them that they were special. A superior race. A perfect race.

Looking around himself, he knew he _was_ different, but...

"_Get away from me Yazoo." Kadaj's voice was shaking, his face completely bloodless. _

"_You were screaming." Kadaj was holding his head, his knees drawn up to his chest. Yazoo knelt down so that he could look him in the eye. "I felt her Kadaj."_

"_What?" Kadaj looked as if he might pass out any second. Yazoo remember the night well. It was the first and only time he had ever felt mother's presence in his own head. Because he knew he and Loz weren't meant to communicate with mother directly, he could only ascertain that in order to feel her presence like he just had, the presence in Kadaj's head had to have been many times more intense._

"_I felt her presence inside of my head." Yazoo said, feeling as if he should be happy. Why wasn't he happy? Kadaj eyes were glazed over._

"_You did? How did..." he held his head. "How did it feel?" _

"_Painful. She sounded angry Kadaj. What did you do to upset her?" Yazoo asked, trying to find a reason. Kadaj laughed weakly. _

"_Don't be silly Yazoo. She isn't upset, she loves us. That's what a mother's love feels like." Kadaj's eyes hardened. "It's supposed to feel like that. You just don't know."_

He'd seen mothers and their children so many times when he was on mission or simply walking around. It didn't seem to be the same. With humans it wasn't the same. He told himself that the reason for this could be that they didn't know any better, they could never be perfect like he and his brothers. Of course things would be different.

But he couldn't let go of the image of a mother and child he had seen so often on the streets...it was just so different. Pure, tender.

And then there were the rotten human beings like the one that had dared to touch him now. Those were the ones that delighted him, because they fit into the definition he'd held dear for so long.

"Yazoo, don't..." Yuffie feared for the large man's life, he'd certainly picked the wrong "lady" to hit on. In fact, it would've been hilarious, if his life weren't in such danger.

"Come on lovely, I'll show you a good time."

"Uh, he's not-" Yuffie tried to help but was immediately cut off.

"I'm not talking to you, girl." Yuffie rolled here yes. _You're not talking to any girl._ But Yazoo still hadn't acknowledged him and he was enraged. "Fine, you want to ignore me?" He grabbed Yazoo by the shoulders and spun him around, pushing him up against the bar. "Let's see how well you ignore me now." Yuffie set aside her empty glass and stood up with her wobbly legs. And then it happened, almost too fast to be visible. The shot was muffled enough by the music and the large man's close proximity, so that the only proof of it was the body now slumped at Yazoo's stool, and the light spray of blood. Yuffie wiped her face, disbelieving. She didn't know what to say, her tongue was stuck.

What had just happened? There was no way he'd just killed that man, there was no way...The look of partial realization was still on the dead man's frozen features. Yazoo dragged the body underneath the counter and sat back down on the bar stool. No one had noticed what had just happened, they were all dancing and drinking, completely oblivious. The bartender came over again and spoke to Yazoo.

"More water sir?" Yazoo shook his head and the bartender walked away. Yuffie backed away. How could he act liked he hadn't just killed man?

"Oh, oh my god..Oh my god! You just...I saw...oh my god!" Yuffie opened her mouth to scream.

"Scream if you like, but no one will notice, no one will care." Yuffie closed her mouth, he was right.

"How could you do that?! That man just made a mistake and y...you killed him? What kind of monster are you!" She looked at the blood still glistening on his gloved hands. She immediately took off into the crowd and she was almost out when she bumped into something hard. She looked up to meet the bright eyes of the oldest one, Loz.

"We have to stop meeting like this." She said, but she was unable to laugh at her lame joke. Not after what she'd just seen. He smiled down on her and she knew she was in trouble, but before she could move, his fist had found her gut and her vision quickly faded to black. It had to be a while before she had woken up. Her head was pounding and she was hearing muffled voices all around her. The more she came to consciousness, the louder the voices got. She opened her eyes to see a gun slide to her feet. Yazoo's gun...

"What's going on?" she asked. There was no answer, only screaming and a lot of it. The images in front of her eyes were still fuzzy, but she could hear the voices so clearly.

"_Kadaj please stop!" _

"_Shut up Loz!"_

"_Please! Please stop! You can't-"_

"_It's what he deserves!"_ Loz sounded especially distraught and Kadaj sounded angrier than she'd ever heard him. But Yazoo wasn't screaming. Through her fuzzy vision she could make his form out, sprawled out on the cave floor, unmoving. She could see red, and lots of it. Red in his hair, smeared on the ground, red on his face, shining in the dark hallows around his eyes. Kadaj's gloved hands were slick with it, and his fists shone in the sparse light as he brought them down again and again.

Yuffie wished she wasn't bound, then maybe she could do something. _Anything_. She joined in with Loz's pleas.

"Stop! Please! You're killing him!" Kadaj stopped and looked at her. Yazoo lay still, but still breathing. Kadaj turned to Yazoo.

"Why aren't you fighting back?" Kadaj already knew the answer though, he knew Yazoo understood that this was mother's will. That Kadaj could not deny her. Kadaj looked away from him. "Yazoo, don't you love her?" Yazoo blinked up at him through the drying blood. "She only does this for your own good, for the reunion." Kadaj said, eyes hardening as he stood up.

"Take care of Yazoo, I'm going out." He called to Loz. Kadaj turned to walk out of the cave, feeling sick to his stomach.

"You're a monster." She said, turning her head away from him. "You own brother..."

"It had to be done." His voice was cold and unfeeling. "Mother knows best."

(A/N: Wow, I don't think I've ever written anything like this chapter. Ever. My Gosh, I feel down all of a sudden. Expect the next chapter to be a bit more cheery and the craziness to continue. I know Kadaj wasn't in much of this one, but he definitely will be in the next one. Besides, I think Yazoo deserved some time in the spotlight. You're reviews are great motivation so keep em comin! Until next time.)


	6. Grip

Kadaj had come back that night in a foul mood He couldn't help the guilt over what he had done, and it seemed as if his mother had deserted him also. He knew she would be back eventually but he needed to talk now. Whenever he really wanted to talk or had a question in dire need of answering he found his mother's presence would be strangely absent. It was almost if she was avoiding him.

She would act the same way whenever he asked about Sephiroth. He always felt the other's presence and it was for that reason that he'd drawn the conclusion that he would have something to do with his infamous brother's resurrection. Jenova had reluctantly confirmed it, but from then on she'd remained tightlipped about anything else concerning Sephiroth. And if he had something to do with it, then what would happen to him when it was over?

Thoughts like these haunted him, especially in his sleep. And after he came back to the cave, seeing that Loz and Yuffie were asleep and Yazoo bandaged, he had the strangest dream yet.

Flames. Everywhere there was nothing but flames. He could hear the tired creaking of the buildings around him as they collapsed into ashes. Some buildings stood tall and bright, burning slowly like candles would. Above him he heard a hiss and he looked up, watching frayed wires birth large currents of electric that traveled in bursts of light across an otherwise dark sky.

Kadaj felt there should've been people screaming and yelling, but there were none. In fact, the place seemed completely void of life, except for one.

The dark figure was still, watching the flames and smoke. But as another electric star tore passed above his head, the dark figure started to turn, the long fall of silver hair swept aside by some convenient traveling wind.

_Marvelous. You're here._

"Me?" Kadaj asked. The man simply started to walk away. Kadaj almost had to jog to catch up, considering the length of the man's strides. "Who are you?" The man did nothing to even indicate he'd heard. "I asked you a question." Kadaj said, no longer moved to chase after the man. The taller man stopped, turned around, his eyes were like glass, like mirrors. Even from where he stood Kadaj could see the reflection of his own gaze.

"Surely you've guessed by now."

"If I had, I wouldn't have asked." Kadaj snapped.

"Children often ask stupid questions."

"I'm not a child."

"They say that a lot too." the older man said. "Do you know what it is like to be imprisoned?" he asked. Without waiting for Kadaj's reply he went on. "Do you know what it is like to be imprisoned in a house of sticks, when you have a book of matches in your hands?"

"I don't understand."

"I'm going to set it on fire and watch it go up in flames."

"You're out of your mind."

"It must be easy to brush off anything that eludes you as insanity." The man said smoothly.

"You don't know anything about me." The man chuckled softly.

"If only you understood the irony."

"I don't care about the irony or your house of sticks." Kadaj said, avoiding that reflective gaze.

"But you should. You might find yourself ablaze, young one. I'm waiting with the matches, you just have to strike them for me. Then I will be free. But when I wonder? How long until reunion? Long enough and mother's choice will be an easy one. As if it isn't already."

"Choice?"

"Yes, choice." The man seemed went on and it seemed as if he was talking to himself instead of Kadaj. "But you are merely a vessel, you would be empty without me. You are nothing without me. I don't see why it is a choice at all." The man looked up at him, smiled. "After all, you are just a piece of my greatness."

Kadaj got up from the ground, seething.

"Who are you?" he asked again.

"Come now, still haven't figured it out?" The man took a few menacing steps toward him. "If you still have to ask that, I think the better question is, who are you?"

Kadaj went to reply but found that he couldn't say anything. He felt his lips moving, but no sound was coming out. And the flames around them melted away as he felt himself being pulled away from the other man and his infuriating smile.

Kadaj woke up breathing as if he'd come from a long run. What was it about dreams that made him so oblivious? He should've known the moment he set eyes on the man.

Sephiroth...But something about the dream had been so real.

"Hey, anyone still awake?" Yuffie wrapped her arms around herself. "Come on, you could at least give me a blanket or something..."

"You're still awake?" Kadaj said, clearly already irritated.

"I can't go to sleep!" Yuffie whined.

"Kadaj, she's been talking the whole night!" said a very annoyed Loz.

"Well, maybe If I had something comfortable to sleep on. You guys think you can strap me in the corner of a cold, dark cave and still expect me to be able to sleep?"

"Stop your complaining and just go to sleep." Kadaj said tiredly.

"I can't." Yuffie said.

"Well why the hell not?" Loz said, exasperated.

"I just can't okay?" Yuffie shivered Kadaj sighed and stood.

"I'm going for a walk."

"Kadaj, please take her with you! None of us will get any sleep with her here." Loz said.

"No." Kadaj said quickly.

"Please Kadaj? As long as she is up she has to keep us up too. And Yazoo needs his sleep." Kadaj sighed. He supposed he did owe it to Yazoo.

"Fine."

"Hey, I don't want to be alone with you!" After seeing what he did to his own brother, there was no way she was going anywhere with him. Kadaj moved quickly to her precise location despite the darkness of the cave and began to untie her.

"I don't know what gave you the idea that I actually care what you want. Besides, maybe a little walk will tire you out. It's either that, or I make you sleep." Yuffie hoped the darkness of the cave hid her expression. From what she'd seen, her fear would most likely encourage him more. No, she would have to be cool, calm, collected and the very definition of ninja-ness.

"Okay, I'll go. But you have to leave your sword behind."

"I don't _have_ to do anything. Get up." she wobbled to her feet.

"You are _so_ rude." he pushed her ahead of him.

"Don't talk, just walk."

When they finally got out of the cave, they started their walk. The night was warm and the sky was the brightest blue the night could allow. It was a beautiful night, and it could be a nice change from her rocky corner in the cave, except that a certain person was cutting off all the circulation to her hand.

"Will you let go of me!" To her surprise, he did.

"Uh, thanks." Yuffie found she wasn't at all happy though. Did he see her as such a small threat that he didn't think she could run away? As if he read her mind, he began.

"Don't be so surprised. You and I both know who has the upper hand. You won't run away." He stopped and grabbed her by her shoulder so that they were almost nose to nose. "But if you try, I'll tear you apart and feed the remains to the birds." He went back to walking. She stared after him, hoping he was joking. But she was sure he wasn't. She caught up to him and walked along with him.

"Why is it necessary for you to be so violent?"

"Why do ask so many questions?"

"I guess I'm just curious."

"Curiosity is for the foolish." Kadaj replied.

"You're foolish if you _aren't_ curious. Or you're just boring." Kadaj glanced at her out of the corner of his eye.

"And you came to this conclusion how?"

"Well sometimes you just have to see for yourself. You can't just blindly accept things, or else you're just asking to be made a fool of." Yuffie cleared her throat. "Curiosity is for the foolish...that's something my father would say. Do you know how much a person could miss out on if they thought like that? Gaia."

"Miss out."

"Yeah, well...being curious can be like finding out what a the top of the stove feels like when it's hot, which sucks, but sometimes being curious...can be the best thing like, ever."

"Hm." Kadaj thought on it. Tried to think about what she meant, but had no personal experiences of his own that applied.

"Kadaj?" she asked, biting her lip. He was almost regretting telling her his name. In the past 24 or so hours he was absolutely sure he'd never heard his name spoken so much. But part of him was more annoyed that though he wanted some peace and quiet, he couldn't seem to ignore her. She would just keep talking anyway, he was sure.

"Can you just be silent?"

"Can you just release me?" Yuffie countered. Kadaj looked away from her. "Well then. Deal with it." He glared at her. Yuffie looked ahead. "I'm not going to tell you anything about Cloud."

"You will soon change your mind about that."

"No, I won't." A breeze came through and Yuffie wrapped her arms around herself. "What do you want with him anyway?"

"That is none of your concern."

"Is this because of Sephiroth?" Kadaj froze.

"What do you know about Sephiroth?"

"Hey, I fought along side Cloud too! And.." she laughed, "who doesn't know about Sephiroth? Even children know his name. I still don't exactly know what his problem was, just that he was completely insane, and probably hadn't ever set foot in a barber shop."

"You wouldn't have understood."

"Excuse me? I understand just fine. An adored and wealthy General goes batshit insane and gets all pyromaniac on everyone's asses, and oh, look, what a monster he is! He was destroying lives long before he set foot in that town, Kadaj. And who the hell would want this planet anyway? It's not _that_ great. Excluding Wutai of course."

"Why aren't you there then?"

"What?"

"Why aren't you in Wutai, that is your home, right?" Yuffie's cheeks warmed, not only because she knew what he was insinuating, but because he had actually remembered when she'd said that?

"I...I'm just not." Yuffie didn't look at him. "You didn't answer my question."

"What."

"Is this because of Sephiroth?"

"Look at me Yuffie, what do you think?" The name slipped out of his mouth, and she froze. He frowned and ignored her shocked expression.

"You do look a lot like him." The air suddenly turned a bit awkward. "All of you do." Yuffie bit her lip. "How?" Kadaj could feel her skirting around a real question, the obvious fact that he was different, and that made everything different. It made everything different... He stopped and turned to her, grabbing her by the arm he looked at it like he had never seen skin before, his thumb sliding down the inside of her arm, desperately searching for the softness he'd felt earlier. No, it wasn't that special. She flinched.

"Ow, what are you doing?"

"Hold still." he said, eyes narrowed. She ripped her arm away from him.

"What is _wrong_ with you?" she rubbed her arm. "I'm probably going to bruise." He started to go on without her and she started after him. "if you wanted feel me up, you could've just asked." she said, smiling. He felt like he was being mocked. "Can't you take a joke?" She was having fun with him, but part of her recognized she was probably just annoying him. She decided that she would take her chances and pressed herself against him, got completely in his face. "I_ am _just joking, you'd never do something like that right? Because curiosity is for fools." she raised her eyebrows. "Right?"

His eyes clouded up, as he looked down on her pressed like that to him. That was what he'd felt earlier on the bike. The warmth altogether with that softness, and something alien and good. He shook his head, but he could still feel her heart beating in her own chest, seductive in its cadence in ways he would never be able to explain.

His mind was suddenly gripped with a familiar presence. The invasion made him lose his train of thought. Yuffie stepped back, his silence was suddenly very eerie and she wondered if she'd really stepped over the line.

"You're right though, this planet is worthless."

" What? That's not what I mea-"

"You would be lucky to die an exquisite death, by the stigma. Put yourself to good use."

Yuffie was a little taken aback, wondering what had caused the sudden change in his demeanor. It was kind of like someone else was talking.

"But-"

"Quiet. She's talking to me." Yuffie looked around.

"Um, _who _is talking to you?" Kadaj's eyes were glazed over, but his hand was over Yuffie's mouth quicker than she could stop it.

"_Mother_." He was scaring her now, and she tried pried his hand off of her mouth.

"Mmmmfff..." His eyes rolled back and he continued to talk, though clearly not to her.

_I do not like this Kadaj._

_Mother?_

_She's already leading you astray._ _Poisoning you with her foolishness._

_Never, Mother._ _I am completely devoted to you. Only to you._

_I pray that you are telling truth, Kadaj. It would hurt me deeply if I had to replace you._

Replace me...?

Then, it just stopped. He came to, his breathing very ragged. "What the _hell _just happened?"

He walked passed her.

"Nothing. Come on. We're heading back." He stopped and crossed his arms. "I said, Come on." But there was nothing. When he turned around she was gone. Again.

(A/N : Man, I spent so long trying to get the interactions right. I never realized how hard Sephiroth's character is the write! Anyway, things are moving along for Kadaj and Yuffie so what will happen next? Um...I don't know yet. Thankyou for your reviews and I look forward to seeing what your thoughts are on this chapter. Adios!)


	7. Inertia

"Damnit!" Kadaj tore into the darkness, trying to pick up on any movement in the brush surrounding the cave. His thoughts were consumed with his mother's words, and the prospect of the girl's escape. He knew that if she got away, she'd undoubtedly run right to Strife.

The night was dense and black and even with his enhanced vision he could not see clearly. His route took him to a forest, and he cursed her and her family before entering.

Kadaj scowled, this was ridiculous_, she_ was ridiculous and he needed to sleep. He needed to focus on mother. Suddenly he heard loud snap.

"Frikin' twigs." a voice came out of the darkness. Her voice. He stilled, the black of his pupils nearly encroaching the green of his eye as his vision adjusted to focus properly on the clumsy figure ahead of him. He crept silently through the forest, stopping suddenly as she stilled, like she might have heard him. Which was _impossible. _No one ever heard him.

"I can hear you." she warned, some meters away. He was silent, unbelieving that she would just give her position away like that. "I see you too!" She was a horrible bluff, and even if he couldn't hear the way her fear shook her voice, he would be able to see the way her eyes darted around in the darkness, clearly blinded by it. "I'm a ninja!"

He was bemused. Moving forward he started to pick up the pace, as he neared her he smiled, becoming drunk the with the clear advantage he held over her. Suddenly in the mood for games, he came to stand behind her.

"Aren't ninja quiet?" he said, watching as she did an awkward about face, her face white as the sharp glint of his sword.

"I...knew you were behind me!"

"Of course you did." he said, watching her look around like a lost little animal. Perhaps a cornered one, with no means of escape. He smiled. Yuffie took off again into the darkness without another word, clumsy but able to avoid any trees without too much difficulty. But he was hot on her tail and she was more than a bit perturbed by the fact that his footfalls were nearly silent, almost as silent as h—

_Ugh, yeah right._ _There is only one ninja here, and that's me!_

She looked for any light, but there was none. The forest was never ending, and so was the darkness. She slowed, trying to think of another way to approach this.

"There is no way out ninja." She would never in a million year admit that he was right.

"That's what you think!"

"_That_ is what I know." When she started to move again he swiftly caught hold of her arm, yanking her closer to him. She tried to shake him off, but it was no use.

"Get your hands off me!" She grit her teeth, looking more like a wild animal now. He only held her tighter, his gloves making it harder to rip away from his grip.

"I can't have you warning big brother." Yuffie stilled.

"What the _hell _are you talking about?" she said. He frowned.

"I've had enough of this game. Don-" the heel of her hand connected with his nose with a nasty crunching sound and he released her, bring his gloved hands up to his face.

"You...little..." the blood on his hands and face, made the air suddenly salty, and he was as incredulous as he was angry. "You..." he didn't have a word for it, all he knew was that he was going to mess her up so badly she wouldn't recognize herself in the mirror. His rage was swift and furious and too pervasive to make room for anything else. Which might've been partly why when she swung again he didn't see it coming until it was nearly too late. He stumbled back, her fist missing by just a fraction of space. But what he really didn't see was her foot coming. It was perhaps the one thing he should've blocked.

Her foot connected with his groin like a boulder crashing into a building. He was breathless as he sank to his knees, unable to describe the pain, unable to stand back up.

"Take that!" she stood with her arms akimbo, smiling proudly. He never wanted to kill a person so much in his life. She bent over and snatched his sword from his holster, cutting the air with it a few times. "Lesson one, never underestimate a ninja." he tried to retort. but he still could not form words. Yuffie held the sword up to the light.

"What do you think I could get for this in a pawn shop?" His eyes widened and she almost felt sorry for him. After admiring her handiwork a little longer she took off when she saw the effects of her kick were wearing off, taking Souba with her. "Just think of it as payment for the materia!" she yelled over her shoulder before disappearing into the night.

Kadaj was just about to get up when suddenly he felt a familiar heat fill his head, his limbs becoming weak, as he again fell forward onto his elbows.

"_Kadaj!"_ Jenova hissed.

"_Mother?"_

"_What do you think you are doing?"_

"_I-"_

"_What did I tell you about that human? Did I not tell you that she would be a distraction?" _Kadaj didn't know what to say, they hadn't gotten any closer to their goal and he had let Yuffie get the better of him. He didn't even want to think about how foolish he must look. What could he possibly say to defend himself?

"_She took Souba."_ he said bitterly.

"_I saw. How could you let this happen? How could you be so weak?"_

"_I'm sorry mother."_

"_At least Yazoo is taken care of, it seems as if you can do some things right."_ Something about that rubbed Kadaj the wrong way. As if sensing this in her child Jenova wasted no time in addressing this. " _Kadaj, questions complicate what is meant to be simple. I do the things that I do because I love you all so dearly. If everything goes as planned we will all be reunited, we will be a family. Isn't that what you want?"_

"_You know it is mother_." Kadaj said, but then boldly went on. "_But will all of us be together?_" An unexpected silence met his question and he wondered if he had gone too far.

"_Why...would you say that?_" her voice said, losing all of its tenderness. He was going to reply but she cut him off. "_Did Sephiroth say anything to you_?" He blinked.

"_Sephiroth?_" There was a long silence. _"Why-"_

"_Never mind Kadaj, You need to focus on our reunion._ _You and your brothers have remained stagnant for far too long. Go and gather your brothers, you are wasting time."_ Kadaj glanced up at the dark sky.

"_My sword._" He couldn't very well just get another one. It was his, had been born with it! It was _his._

"_Child, if you waste any more time with that foolish girl..._" Kadaj frowned.

"_I will only retrieve my sword._" Even as he said this he was seeing red, imagining the many ways he could make her pay.

"_If you must child. But take your brothers with you, you have wasted enough time here."_

--

"Rise and shine brothers." Kadaj walked over to Loz and nudged him with his foot.

"Kadaj?" The eldest said sleepily, yawning. Kadaj narrowed his eyes.

"Wake up, we have no time to waste." A note in Kadaj's voice made Loz more alert.

"Is it mother?" he asked, wide eyed.

"She wants to get moving, we have spent too much time here doing nothing." Loz sat up, careful not to wake Yazoo who was sleeping close by.

"Where is the girl?"

"I...let her go. She was of no use to us." Kadaj said easily. Loz's mouth fell open.

"You..._what_?" Loz looked at his younger bother as if he had two heads. Kadaj frowned.

"Don't forget yourself Loz." Kadaj glanced over at Yazoo's sleeping form. "I did what was necessary."

"You didn't kill her? But she might go and-" Kadaj lifted his hand, and Loz stopped in mid sentence.

"Enough. Don't you trust me brother?" Kadaj said, smiling with his teeth bared.

"Of course I do." Loz looked away, in the direction of the middle brother, his face falling into shadow. When Loz turned to face Kadaj again, his expression was hard. "Yazoo is still healing."

"And mother is still waiting. Wake him up, and get a move on. Head south." Kadaj started to walk out. "I'll catch up."

Almost as soon as he stepped out of the cave, his phone rang.

"Who is this." he demanded right away.

"Yuffie? What the fucks wrong with your voice? Are you sick or somethin'?" Kadaj raised an eyebrow. Who was calling his phone and asking for Yuffie?

"Who_ is_ this?"

"I was hoping you'd be sober now."

"You have the wrong number." Kadaj was about to flip his phone closed but the next thing the person on the other line said stopped him.

"I didn't tell Spike, wasn't sure if you were in your right mind, ya know? I mean, Sephiroth having some sons no one heard about? I have a hard enough time believing he even liked the chicks..." Kadaj was bemused.

"How did you get this number?"

"Easy, I just called the last number that called me."

"Who are you?" Kadaj asked calmly.

"Who the fuck else would it be! Cid, dammit!" Satisfied, Kadaj flipped his phone closed. Funnily enough, as difficult as people usually were to deal with, digging for information on Yuffie was easier than he ever would have imagined. The girl was too boisterous for her own good, and more people than he would have thought knew who he meant to find through even the limited bits of information he could offer himself.

Through his inquiries about the girl, he usually either got no reaction at all, a frown or some kind of show of exasperation once the person realized just who he was looking for. Had she really been here that long? If her home was not this place, why would she possibly want to stay here? Who would not want to be home?

Anyway, in his quest for his sword, he realized that he had to try his best to be civil to the humans. He would rather play his games, he would_ rather_ kill them, but he knew in a heartbeat his mother would be there to reprimand him for wasting time like that. Mother was the most important thing anyway, and so he went about a quicker route in getting his information.

There were no death threat, no slow torture, just quite a bit of talking. But it was easy enough, all he had to do was smile in their faces to get what he wanted. People were stupid. And as he was finding out, also quite susceptible to his charms. They were clearly in awe of him, and afraid as well. And why shouldn't they be? Even animals could recognize what was superior.

Yuffie slept cozily in her hotel room, unaware of his approach. For good measure she had pushed all of the furniture against the door, and even taken her large shuriken out of her luggage. She might actually need it. She dreamt of the strange ethereal boy, and nearly woke herself up a few times. He had the same distanced gaze that Sephiroth did.

It was the creepiest thing. She had seen Sephiroth talk with her father a few times, and she had always been bothered that the General would never look at her, like she wasn't important. Like she wasn't the princess of a land he was raping, like she didn't understand that that was exactly what was happening.

But there was that one time. She'd been making faces at the General from afar, up on one of the balconies while he yet again he talked businesses with her father. He looked up just as she'd made another face, not really expecting him to see, but he saw. He saw and his expression didn't change, even as _she_ withered in her crawling skin, more angry that he was still so scary that far away. That she couldn't just look at him and go.._.yeah, what_?

Kadaj had so much of what had scared her back then, what had made her loathe The General and ShinRa, enough to join a band of terrorists and finally take that bastard down. Okay, well maybe Cloud had done _a little_ of the work. But that was beside the point.

Kadaj was _so_ much like him. But as much as the two were similar, Kadaj was also radically different in a way that made her more interested than anything. A part of her already had some bitterness stowed away for him, just for being so connected to a man she hated. It wasn't fair, but who said life was fair? Regardless, it looked as if all three of the silver haired men were on the same crazy train Sephiroth had been on. So maybe she was justified.

And there was the obvious factor in her fascination. Kadaj was gorgeous, plain and simple. There really was no way she could deny it, even if she wanted to. But he was a jerk, and though he antagonized her far more than she had ever been he also seemed to have a way of completely dismissing her, looking past her like she was nothing. And through her frustration with that, her mind just wouldn't let him go.

And _oh yeah,_ the planet might be in trouble again.

Kadaj found himself standing in front of an unremarkable little hotel. He felt the excitement of the coming reconciliation roiling in the pit of his stomach and he breathed in, in the habit of savoring the still moments before he made his move. He pushed through the doors and walked towards the stairs.

"Excuse me." a voice said. He stopped, turned. "You can't go there." Kadaj smiled and approached the desk. He was impatient, so impatient that he wasn't completely sure he felt like holding himself in check. Kadaj leaned on the desk.

"My friend in staying here." The clerk looked suspicious.

"You're freind."

"Yes, a slight, loud girl probably no older than I am. Her name is Yuffie." The clerk looked at him.

"She isn't accepting visitors, besides, that is against our policy." Kadaj smiled faltered, but it was back up again looking more ferocious now.

"She said that?"

"She did." the clerk said. Kadaj rolled his eyes. The girl was obviously trying to prevent him from getting to her. Kadaj clicked his tongue.

"I'm afraid your policy is about to change sir." Kadaj went for his sword, but remembered it wasn't there. That did it.

"Please leave, I don't want to have to call security."

"I don't want to have to kill you." Kadaj snatched the man's neck into his hand. "Oh wait, yes I do." The man struggled, terrified.

"Wait...please..." he wheezed. "Kadaj let go a little. "Room K5." Kadaj let go completely.

"Thankyou." Kadaj started towards the stairs, the turned to look over his shoulder. "Keep this between us alright? I only want her. I'm not going to bother any one else. But if you call for security, I can't promise you I won't." Kadaj started up the stairs. "This place would look better in ashes anyway."

Standing at her door, he could hear her heart beating inside. He couldn't wait to-

"Kadaj!" Kadaj whipped around to see his brothers. He scowled.

"What are you two doing here?" Loz looked a bit panicked. "Loz, didn't I tell you both to head south?" Yazoo stepped forward, lacking none of his grace despite still being clearly injured.

"I decided not to." Yazoo said easily. Kadaj advanced on him.

"If you did not already look like hell, I would-"

"Kadaj, Yazoo, please don't fight. We have to stay-"

"You two will do what I say." Kadaj said venomously.

"Kadaj, do not blame Loz, I am the one who decided to follow you." Yazoo said, unafraid. Kadaj was suddenly defensive, more because Yuffie was behind that door and he didn't have his sword and the whole scenario made him look like a great fool. And in essence, he was wasting time.

"Follow me, why?"

"We will not leave your side Kadaj. We must stay together. If we separate, it is less likely we will find mother faster." Yazoo also thought back to those paralyzing sessions with mother Kadaj often had. Loz had been the one to bring that up and when Yazoo thought about it Loz was right. Kadaj knew best, but he needed them. Even if he didn't think so himself. Yazoo didn't express this concern because he was sure that would only make Kadaj angrier. But why would he separate himself in the first place? "What are you doing here brother?"

"It is none of your concern."

"Where is your sword?" Loz said, noticing its absence. Kadaj knew he was caught.

"The human has it." he said through his teeth. Both older brothers were taken aback.

"I thought you said-"

"Loz, forget what I said. I'm going to retrieve my sword. Wait here." Kadaj purposely avoided Yazoo's hard unwavering gaze. He didn't have to explain himself.

Kadaj chose the quiet route in and instead picked the lock. It was quick work and he made his way inside, stepping over and through all of the furniture crammed up against the door. _The door opens out, idiot. _He crept closer to her sleeping form, eyes bright.

When Yuffie woke up, she could sense that something definitely wasn't right. The air was disturbed and uh...her wrists were tied to the bed posts.

"Wonderful, you're awake." his voice made her blood run cold, but she didn't show it.

"Wha...what are you doing here?" Kadaj stood up from her dresser. She looked around and saw that he had turned the place upside down, her clothes and all of her things were scattered everywhere. A couple of pieces of furniture were broken.

"Dude, I'm gonna have to pay for all that damage! And who do you think you are going through my stuff?" Kadaj curled his lip.

"I want my sword." his fingers twitched by his sides.

"I want to be untied, right now! I have had _enough_ of this already, what do you carry rope around with you, you pervert?" Yuffie struggled against the bindings. "Where the hell did this come from?" she looked at the knots at her wrist.

"Pervert..." he said, somewhat bewildered. He shook his head.

"Ugh, gods were you watching me sleep?" Yuffie shivered. "you are such a _freak._" Kadaj came to stand over her.

"Where. Is. My. Sword." Well he was in a bit of a bind. He couldn't kill her, because she knew where his sword was. She turned her head away from him and spoke.

"I don't have your sword."

"You're lying."

"No I'm not."

"Where's the key?"

"Key?" Kadaj walked to the side of her bed.

"The key to the only drawer in this room I couldn't open."

"I don't know what you're talking about." she said, pressing her head down further into the pillow. This didn't go unnoticed by Kadaj.

"I think that you do." He reached a hand under the pillow and like he thought, there was a key. He immediately went over to the drawer, ready to get his sword. He smiled, thinking of the many ways he could end her life with the Souba and how happy he would be when the nightmare was over. He unlocked the drawer and what he saw was not his sword, but a wad of gil.

He heard her infuriating laughter behind him.

"You'd be surprised how late some pawn shops stay open." He turned around slowly to meet her smiling face. He was so angry he was shaking. His mind was made, her life was about to end. And he would do it with his bare hands.

(A/N: Finally done! Next chapter should come soon. I hope y'all enjoyed it. Tell me what you think! Until next time.)


	8. Back Swing

Yazoo and Loz stood on either side of the door frame as Kadaj took care of his business inside. He could not believe that Kadaj was wasting time in the girl. He couldn't believe she had even managed to get her hands on his sword, and that he had actually tried to separate from them just to pursue the girl. Nothing about any of this seemed normal, or right. Kadaj just didn't seem to be thinking clearly since her appearance, and Yazoo couldn't imagine why.

"Shouldn't Kadaj have gotten his sword by now?" Loz sighed, running his fingers idly over his Dual Hound.

"I'm sure he will be out soon." In truth, he was a bit tired of the whole thing himself. As ironic as it was, Kadaj seemed to be losing sight of what they were supposed to be doing. Was it not him that punished and chastised when he and Loz had shown even the slightest sign of diversion?

He had very pointedly told them to wait outside while he retrieved the Souba and ended the human's life. He'd seen it in his eyes then, the hunger. Kadaj had always been a bit greedy and now was no exception. He wanted the kill for himself, Yazoo was a bit wary because of how much it appeared his younger brother wanted it. There was just something different about this. He could feel it, and he didn't like it one bit.

He just hoped he killed her and got it over with, so they could continue with their mission. A boy who must've been staying in the hotel entered the hallway, significantly slowing his steps upon seeing the two silver haired men. He stared with wide eyes at them, and they ignored him. At least Yazoo did.

"Is there something on my face?" The boy nearly jumped out of his skin at the sound Loz's voice. Yazoo could hear the laughter in his older brothers voice. The boy seemed frozen to the spot. Yazoo knew that Loz could be quite talkative and usually was with the ones he killed.

"Then why do you stare?" Yazoo closed his eyes, completely uninterested. Loz knew very well why people stared . Since they came to exist, they found that silver hair was hardly common. And if recognized as familiar, it was usually for only one reason, Sephiroth.

"It's impolite to stare." Loz said, taking a step forward. The boy ran immediately, until he disappeared through the door at the other end of the hall. Yazoo opened his eyes.

"Loz, stop terrorizing the humans." Yazoo said, remembering how important it was for them to keep a low profile. Loz sighed.

"I'm bored..." Yazoo shook his head, something of a smile on his face.

Kadaj reached a hand back and closed the drawer slowly. Yuffie's grin dissipated as she watched him from the bed. He took deliberately slow steps towards her and it suddenly dawned on her that maybe she shouldn't antagonize him. She tried to wriggle her wrists out of the restraints, but no luck. One thing was for sure, Kadaj could tie a mean knot. He came to stand at the foot of her bed. She partly expected for it to be the end of her right there. But instead, he started to laugh. Not a 'I just heard a funny joke' laugh, but a 'I am completely insane' laugh.

The sight and the sound of it were enough for her to want to look away.

"It's a shame..." he began, taking a seat at the edge of the bed. "I was really considering giving you a quick death."

"Um...how bout not killing me at all?" Yuffie challenged. Kadaj let an expression of mock consideration onto his face. Then after a couple of seconds, gave his answer.

"No." She felt the smooth leather of his glove against her throat and tried to pull herself back and away from his hand.

"You'll never get your sword back if you kill me." Kadaj tightened his grip on her throat.

"That's where you're wrong. You're going to tell me where you sold Souba." Yuffie struggled to get out of his grasp.

"Souba?" Yuffie kicked out, trying to get him off of her. "What is it with you people and naming your swords? Can't you just get a dog or something?" Kadaj frowned and tightened his hold.

"Tell me now." Kadaj demanded.

"Nuh...uh!" came Yuffie strangled reply. But this time when she kicked her legs out she managed tonearly knock his off the bed. Yuffie kicked the remained covers off and continued to wriggle around in an attempt to release herself form the restraints. But in a split second he was back on her, a wild look in his eye. She kicked at him again and he caught her ankle in his hand, twisting it until she shrieked in a pitch that satisfied him.

But Yuffie was resourceful and when he made the mistake of letting go of her ankle she quickly locked her ankles around his neck, bringing her knees up and bringing his head down and right into the headboard. He groaned as his head collided with the hardwood, blacking out a little bit. When she unlocked her ankles he fell directly on top of her and pushed the air right out of her.

She 'oomphed' and tried to buck him off, but he stayed where he was.

"This is not a battle you can win, but by all means keep fighting. It's pretty entertaining." he said, forgetting that this was supposed to be a quick affair. But truthfully he was entertained, the part of him that liked to play games wanted her to fight, to see her recognize that she had no chance. Clearly she was refusing to give him that, and sure she had a few fancy little tricks, but it would be all the more sweet when she gave in. Because sooner or later she would.

He was unconscious responding to the challenge she was in so many ways. Having never been challenged in such a way, he couldn't resist. It was perhaps like an extraordinarily beautiful woman, who meets another clearly much more inferior man, but who is strangely immune to her charms.

"Yeah well, keep on talking so I can rough you up some more, _with_ my hands tied." His eyes flashed dangerously and he reached for her shoulders, but Yuffie saw an opening and delivered a push kick with both her feet to his chest. He slid off the bed, hitting the ground with a loud thud. Yuffie smiled triumphantly for a moment before a silver and black blur caught her attention. She felt a pair of strong hands seize her shoulders and literally rip her out of her restraints. The grip never ceased and time seemed to slow to a normal pace as Kadaj face clearly came into view. He glared at her, eyes wide, manic and now a glittering green.

He mentally cursed at being so sloppy with his movements, for being so careless. What the hell was wrong with him? He felt strangely disoriented, like he was split into conflicting pieces. A more familiar part of him was asking why he hadn't killed her already. The reasoning part of him

told it that it was because drawing it out would be more fun. But he didn't feel that was it. But some alien part of him was saying something he thought was utterly preposterous. It was telling him that maybe he was putting off her murder, that maybe he was stalling.

Why would he do that? He slammed her into the mattress, not really even seeing her, not seeing anything. He was in a rage. She was helpless to stop him, but he got bored of that soon and just hurled her into the headboard.

She cried out as her back hit the wood, sliding down it and feeling like one big ache. He came close to her again, sandwiching her between him and the headboard.

"Tell me where you sold my sword." He said, desperately trying to leave himself with no excuses, so that he could finally kill her. She frowned at him.

"No." She kicked out at him, but this time he caught it, grasping the crook of her leg with his hand.

"I wouldn't do that." he said. She looked at him, then at the leg he currently had in his hand.

"Well obviously, I would."

"Do you value your life Yuffie?"

"What...kind of question is that?"

"Or do you think that I won't do it?" Kadaj actually wanted to know why she wasn't afraid, why she wasn't begging for her life, how she could constantly challenge him like this. Was she just that stupid?

"Tch, I know you'll do it, but not until you get your sword." The hand on her leg was starting to bug her. "Can you put my leg down now?" He sighed.

"No, I can't." he moved closer to her. "Are you sure you want me to?" Yuffie's eyes went wide.

"You _are_ a sex pervert." Kadaj felt the bile rising.

"Wrong." he said. "But isn't this what you want? What all of you human females only want?" he thought back to her pressed up against him in the forest. That was what she'd been insinuating right? Out of pure curiosity his slid his hand further up her leg to see what she would do.

They kind of just stared at each other. He had a flash of some woman laying prostrate, naked. She smiled like a wolf would, as a fall of silver hair came into frame. Kadaj curled his lip. Disgusting, he wondered when he would not have to be subject to insignificant little snapshots of Sephiroth's life. But despite himself, he felt himself becoming a bit warm. He felt like he was bewitched by some horrible mix of curiosity and aching of his flesh. Yuffie was kind of frozen.

Should she just sit there and let him feel her up like that? What would her father think? What would the gang think? Oh God. She'd forgotten about them. Just as she was about to protest, his hand moved farther up to rest on her thigh. Honestly, he wasn't doing much, but considering everything, the situation seemed just a little abnormal . But somehow, that intensified things.

He sought to move his hand higher and Yuffie, by that time, had just about had enough. No one, messed with the Great Ninja Yuffie. Not even silver haired pretty boys.

"Get off of me!" she kicked his hand away and the spell was broken. He scowled, disgusted with himself. What _had_ he been thinking? She punched at his face but he easily caught it and threw her to the floor. He got off of the bed and walked up to her fallen form.

"I'm done playing." He didn't even care to draw it out now, he was just so disgusted with himself.

"Yeah, yeah. You know, that's really getting old." She smiled and sprang back to the dresser, she nearly outright collided with it but she managed to stop in time. He cocked an eyebrow at her sporadic movement, not seeing as she reached behind her back for something. Naturally he never think of her as a threat or even close to one, so he slacked off a bit. He didn't watch as closely as he usually would, but maybe he should have.

With only a yell as a warning for the coming attack. Kadaj saw her disappear from view and quickly swipe her arm out once she was in front of him. Immediately his face began to sting, then it began to hurt. He put a hand up to his cheek, feeling something warm against his fingers. He pulled his hand back, looking at it incredulously. Blood. His blood.

Yuffie saw his face change ferociously, he was very clearly furious and now she was rethinking whether or not attacking him like that had been a wise choice. But she bore it with a grin, raising her humongous shuriken over her body.

He took a threatening step forward.

"How dare you..." In what seemed like a millisecond she felt something powerful pull her

weapon away from her grasp. She heard it fall to the floor in some other part of the room. She stared ahead with wide eyes, thinking of Yazoo laying in a near lifeless heap some days ago. She felt her feet quickly leave the floor and only the glimpse of leather alerted her that he'd been the one to snatch them from under her.

He held her upside down by one of her ankles and she hadn't had the chance to catch her breath yet before he swung her whole body back with inhuman strength and swung her back down into the floor. Her head hit the floor hard and her vision went fuzzy around the edges. What was more, she had the feeling her shoulder had just dislocated.

He released his hold on her for a second and she tried to get up immediately, knowing her only chance at life now was to run. But when she got to her feet all she could do was stumble around. She saw what looked like the door and she stumbled towards it, only to be thrown into the wall.

He punched her in the stomach and though she was breathless raised her head and looked at him with a smile that was both lopsided and defiant. It made him even angrier.

She felt his hand on her ankle again and this time he really did twist. Very hard. She heard something crack and she screamed, not even hearing her own voice through the blinding pain.

She felt the air leaving her again, this time probably because of the hands around her throat. She was choking and hard as she tried to pry the hands away, they were like steel. Her vision was slowly going black and she just wished that she could've died with some type of materia in her possession...

(A/N : I'm so sorry for the wait guys! School is such a pain. Anyway I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and yes there is another cliffhanger. Cause I'm evil like that. Is Yuffie going to die? If not, what's going to happen to her? What's going to happen with Kadaj? Tune in next time to find out! The next chapter will be coming very very soon. Thanks to everyone who has been reviewing. And as always tell me what you think!)


	9. Potential Energy

The door swung open so fast, it nearly obliterated the wall behind it. Yazoo and Loz both looked up to see Kadaj shoot from the room, stalking quickly to the wall. He didn't say one word to them, instead he turned his back to them, staring at the wall like it had committed some heinous crime against him. Loz looked at Yazoo, a question in his eyes. Yazoo could only shrug, not sure himself about why Kadaj was acting so strangely.

They both could feel Kadaj's anger. What was it _this_ time? Yazoo wondered. Kadaj crossed his arms and continued to stare down the wall. His breathing was labored in obvious agitation and he began to mutter to himself. Loz caught : _'Stupid girl'_ and Yazoo caught something that sounded like _'Idiotic'._

Kadaj punched the wall and it easily caved under his fist. Loz spoke up.

"Kadaj?" he said. Why was he acting this way?

"_What._" Kadaj answered immediately, clearly irritated. Loz blinked, had he done something wrong? Kadaj never spoke to him like that unless he had. It was then that Yazoo noticed something that was still missing.

"Where is your sword Kadaj?" Yazoo asked carefully. Kadaj still didn't turn around, instead he laughed. "If only I knew brother." It was the type of laughter that only served as a warning, an obvious indication of rage, an indication that they had better not say the wrong thing or else he might completely fly off the handle.

"You mean, you don't know?" Kadaj whipped around, eyes narrowed.

"Does it sound like I know Loz?" He spat. He could see Yazoo about to say something but he immediately cut him off, even before he had a chance to ask.

"Yazoo, don't. I'm not in the mood." Yazoo would have ignored such pompous behavior at any other time, but this was somehow different. Kadaj turned to Loz.

"You're coming with me." It was very clear that even speaking calmly was taking quite an effort. "Yazoo, you're staying with Yuffie." Both brothers were shocked. She was still alive!? Yazoo took a step forward.

"That human is still alive?" his growled through his teeth. Kadaj glared.

"Barely, now go." Kadaj waved him away but Yazoo didn't move.

"What is going through your head Kadaj? Why isn't she dead?" This questioning was clearly crossing the line, but Yazoo didn't care. He wanted answers. Kadaj stepped dangerously close to his older brother.

"Who do you think you're talking to?" Yazoo scoffed.

"This isn't the time for this Kadaj." Kadaj blinked, not believing his ears. He looked at Loz who had his arms crossed.

"What about mother?" he asked. It was if the balance of power had slightly shifted. And he didn't like it one bit. But part of him was understanding why. He had shown weakness. Leaders weren't weak, leaders didn't hesitate. Leaders didn't freeze or cease to do something necessary. He hadn't killed her. He'd had the opportunity, but when it came time to do it, he didn't. He had killed others for much less of an offense.

He felt so disoriented, so upside down and he wondered what was happening to him. He hated it. He hated her , because he didn't understand what it was about her that made him feel like such a fool.

She didn't matter to him. She was just an annoying, skinny brat who couldn't keep her mouth closed.

"She knows where my sword is." he said.

"Oh, so that's why. See Yazoo, he has a reason." Loz said. But Yazoo knew there was more to it and that worried and angered him. But let it drop at that, knowing whatever was going on was something Kadaj would have to deal with. He leaned back on the wall again.

"Fine." He said smoothly, although his sharp gaze was still directed at his younger brother. Kadaj looked back with the same sharp eyes. An intimidating glare that came so easily to him. Only as his brother, Yazoo saw what others wouldn't. And he hoped the uncertainty he saw in Kadaj was done away with soon.

Yuffie woke up for second time that day. Except this time something was very noticeably wrong. She stirred and was reminded of that as her shoulder cracked and bone searing pain shot to every nerve that could feel it.

"Nynnyuh..." she turned over and this time the pain came soaring from her ankle. Everywhere hurt. Absolutely everywhere. Her stomach, her neck, legs, arms, you name it. Didn't he have even a little bit of etiquette? What kind of person who beat on a woman like that? A dead one that's who. She would show him, she would show him and his weirdo brothers what was what! Her shoulder cracked again. Okay, so maybe she should fix herself up first...

If only she could move. She heard something shift and whipped around only to regret it.

"Ah ooh!" she groaned as her injured body protested to such quick movement.

Why her? She had just wanted to go see the gang, rest at the bar where there was warmth, food and no crazy silver haired guys trying to kill her. Was that really too much to ask for? Apparently it was, because as she looked up there was Yazoo sitting in the easy chair next to her bed. He was the only one who hadn't put his hands on her.

"Don't you guys know how to knock!?" she asked, tired of waking up to silver haired surprises. Yazoo said nothing to her, he only sat there, arms folded and long legs crossed atop the accompanying foot stool. In fact, the only reason she had for thinking he noticed she was even in the room was the disapproving glare he directed her way.

"Wow a facial expression. How does it feel?" Yuffie spat, so tired of it all. Yazoo looked away from her, picking up a old issue of _Medicine Now!_ and disappearing behind it.

"Fine, don't talk to me. See if I care. You and your brothers could give me the silent treatment all day and I wouldn't care. Nope, not me." Yuffie couldn't help but look up at the man to see if he was listening. It appeared he wasn't. But appearances can be deceiving and Yazoo couldn't help but hear her. He was beginning to understand why Kadaj had beat her up like that. In fact he was already considering bringing his Velvet Nightmare out for a little reunion.

He sighed, realizing how short his patience was these days.

"So...whatcha readin?" Yazoo slammed the magazine down on the bedside table, glaring daggers at her. "Fine, fine you don't have to be so touchy! If you don't want to talk you could've just said so. But oh..that's right! You don't talk." Yuffie smiled as she saw the edges of his mouth twitch. He looked out of the window, but there was nothing interesting there. Just white. No blue, no clouds, not even grey ones.

"Hey, what's with that anyway? Talking is fun, see? I'm talking and look how much fun I'm having. Yaay." It was hardly convincing in her currently injured state. He shoulder cracked.

"Ow..." she shifted. "What's Kadaj's problem? He has no manners, I'll tell you what."

Yazoo tried not to listen to the one-sided conversation. "So...you guys are related to Sephiroth?" Yazoo was surprised, how much did she know? There was a bit of a silence and she shifted around. "Ow...ow..ow.." When would her nightmare be over?

Kadaj walked along with Loz in the hot, dusty marketplace. They'd been to one pawn shop already and nothing had turned up. Kadaj coughed as the wind picked up and tossed the sand in his face.

"Damn it!" His outburst scared a few people walking nearby and they gave him and Loz a wide berth. Loz looked down on him, curiously. Kadaj walked ahead and collided with a skinny teenage boy. "Watch where you're going human!" Kadaj grabbed the kid by the front of his shirt and tossed him out of his way. Loz observed the situation with interest, Kadaj was definitely in a terrible mood and seemingly not paying attention to anything around him. Loz smiled lopsidedly, it was kind of funny.

But on the other hand he was kind of worried, it was painfully clear that Kadaj was falling off track. Kadaj went into another pawn shop and Loz followed. They waited at the counter.

"Girls aren't that bad you know." It took all of Loz's courage to bring it up, because he knew how Kadaj felt about mixing in with humans. Kadaj glared at him but didn't say anything. That was Loz's cue, just the fact that Kadaj hadn't chastised him was a sign the he was as open as he'd ever be.

"They're different." Loz said. Kadaj tapped his fingers on the counter glass.

"They're inferior." Kadaj snapped, still Loz kept on.

"I know they are." Loz said, he knew humans were inferior, he shared the same feelings as his brothers, but there was something about beautiful things in general that interested him. It didn't stop him from killing when he needed to, but he'd always liked pretty things. Naturally he liked pretty girls. He'd never thought so deep to realize they attraction wasn't completely surface. He didn't think that it was something natural, connected to the small part of him that was nearly human. He'd rather not think about it either, about his human part.

He didn't mind associating with them, but he would not be brought down so low to believe that any part of him was human. It was complicated but he just let what was, be. Kadaj looked down at the counter.

"Different..." he repeated Loz's words.

"Yeah, they are. Softer, you know?" Tch, there was nothing soft about that girl excapt for her skin. Her skin...He shook his head, what was important was getting his sword back and the reunion. Not girls. Especially loud-mouthed annoying sword stealing ones...

There was a lot that was going to remain unsaid between the two. Kadaj could almost tell that Loz had experience with women, he had practically admitted with his unwanted conversation.

"You know, girls-" Kadaj held up his hand.

"Enough Loz." But he would not listen to any more prate about girls. Loz was silenced, figuring that was as far as he was going to push it. Kadaj could see the conversation taking a very ugly turn. As in sex talk ugly. And he was NOT going to have a talk like that with Loz. Or anyone for that matter. He knew the bits and pieces, not much. But he hardly cared. And if Loz thought for one moment that if he ever admitted to some shit like that, that he would be okay with it he was very sorely mistaken.

He knew what sex was, but had never really thought about himself and sex. If it happened to cross his mind, it might be because of something Loz said, or something he'd seen that was particularly provocative. He'd never had any real desire to know what it felt like but now he-

Kadaj gave a jolt as he realized what he was thinking, lip curling in disgust. What the hell was going on?

"And then you'll never guessed what happened! I found this materia, out of the blu-"

"Listen, if you don't close your mouth this instant, I will have no choice but to silence you myself." Yazoo swept his fingers across his gun.

"Pfft, you are the most anti-social-"

"Keep talking human, you should be dead anyway."

"I..uh..what?" Yuffie blinked. "Why should I be dead?"

"Kadaj was _supposed_ to kill you."

"Oh...right. Why didn't he?" Yazoo looked away, not sure he even wanted to know the honest answer to that question.

"Oh, I know why..." Yazoo pretended not to hear her. "He's probably madly, deeply, in love with me." Yuffie sighed. "It's a burden you know, being who I am. No one can resist the charm of The Great Ninja Yuffie." Yazoo brought out his gun.

"And I don't think Kadaj would appreciate it if you killed me." Yazoo went as far as to cock his gun, but he felt she was probably right. That in itself was disturbing. He frowned and put away his gun.

"But I have a deal for you. I'll be quiet, if you cure me. My shoulder hurts like hell, I think it's dislocated and I think my ankle is sprained.

"I don't bargain with humans." He said simply. "Besides, I have no materia."

"Liar! What about my stolen materia?" Yuffie said a little hysterically.

"Kadaj has it."

Thus the talking ensued. Lots and lot of annoying headache-inducing talking. Just when he'd thought she'd finished, she started right back up again.

"This can stop with one cure." she said in a sing-songy voice. Yazoo rubbed his temples.

"I don't have any materia, but I have another suggestion." As Yuffie managed to nod there was something about his expression that told her she should've said no.

Kadaj and Loz were walking up the stairs dejectedly, after not finding the sword. They were just about to open the door when...

"Ah God! Yazoo!"

"Hold still human." came Yazoo's softer reply.

"Just put it in already!" there was the very audible squeaking of bedsprings and then... "Gah! Not too hard, I do have bones ya know! Slower."

"If I do it any slower, it will hurt even more. Now stop your whining or else I'll rethink this completely."

"Fine, just push it in."

Loz did his best not to burst out laughing. Yazoo wouldn't...would he? Kadaj scowled, nearly ripping the door off it's hinges when he busted in. There Yazoo was, hunched over Yuffie with his hands on her. Kadaj saw that they weren't doing what he and Loz had thought but that didn't explain why Yazoo was touching her.

"What the hell is going on here?" he asked through gritted teeth. Yuffie looked at him with wide eyes and Yazoo gave him a bemused look.

"Really, it's called knocking.." she said. Kadaj advanced on her like a wild animal ready to pounce, only to have Yazoo stop him.

"Please, I just popped her shoulder back in. And after all that noise, I'd rather not have it undone."

"You were...popping her shoulder back in?"

"Uh duh!" Yuffie said, with a roll of her eyes.

"Why?" Kadaj said, a bit shocked.

"She promised to be quiet."

"Pfft, she's never quiet Yazoo."

"And I shouldn't even come through on my promise with the pain you caused me!" she said rubbing her shoulder. "I think you did it on purpose." Yazoo ignored her and directed his attention to Kadaj.

"Did you find your sword?"

"No." Kadaj sat on the edge of the bed. "We went to three different pawn shops." He stood up. "Which is why, this time, you're coming with me.

"But, I can hardly move!" Yuffie said.

"Somehow, I think you'll manage.

Yuffie limped and wobbled along the streets, in a foul mood. She tried not to think of the nightmare that were the stairs she'd just had to climb down. She couldn't believe Kadaj could just make her walk like this.

"Hurry up!" he said over his shoulder as he walked ahead. She gave him the evilest glare she could manage but he was unfazed. Every step she took felt like daggers twisting in her ankle and her shoulder only felt slightly better. And that didn't include the other places she was bruised and hurt.

People were staring at her as she wobbled down the road and she glared at them too.

"What are you looking at?" She tried to wobble faster as she tried to catch up to Kadaj, 'owing' all the way. Soon they were at the place.

Chimes went off as they walked through the door and the very strong scent of incense hit them both right in the face. Kadaj spared her a sideways glance.

"This is the place, honest." Kadaj scoffed, 'honest' wasn't even a word that belonged in her vocabulary. But he spied her swollen ankle, her limp and every obvious bruise. It was clear she was made of tougher stuff than he'd originally thought. He let the thought go unchecked.

He leaned back against the wall while she limped to the counter. She rang the bell repeatedly and a skeletal woman in colorful scarves came out from the back.

"Oh, hello honey doll! I never forget a face sugarpie!"

"Uh...yeah. I sold you a sword and I wanna buy it back."

"My word! You look positively awful!" Yuffie's eye twitched, how rude. But man, she'd like to see _her_ try and survive the beat down she'd received.

"Yeah, but about the sword-"

"I'm sorry babycakes, but I can't help you." Yuffie frowned.

"But I sold it to you just a little while ago!"

"No taksies backsies. I don't sell back to the seller."

"But..but I have good money!"

"It creates bad karma..." That's when Yuffie lost it.

"Listen you _fruitloop!_ I am having a very bad day. A VERY bad day! And if you don't give me the sword now, I'll will get totally ninja on your ass!"

"My word!"

Kadaj rolled his eyes. He was about to step forward and get his sword by death threat until he froze. His body went rigid. Then this thick warmth began to branch out into his body. Then it was hot, scorching, burning. He was burning, and everything was fading from view...

"_Badly done Kadaj. Badly done." There was a wave of silver and the sound of footsteps. Heavy ones. "I trust you'll recognize me this time?" the voice was deep, powerful, mocking. Kadaj got to his feet, his vision still a little blurry._

"_No..." He said, not in the mood for his eldest brother's antics. Not in the mood to be reminded of what a horrible job he knew he was doing. Because that's what Sephiroth was a lot of the time, a big fat reminder of his status as second fiddle. Kadaj's vision cleared and he looked around to see what looked like a comfortable apartment. Sephiroth was sitting, legs crossed. He could very clearly see a word inscribed at the corner of one of the white walls. Shinra. Kadaj narrowed his eyes._

"_Sit down." it wasn't a request. But Kadaj stared defiantly and Sephiroth smiled, it didn't reach his eyes._

"_Fine, stand if you must. But we have important things to talk about." Kadaj crossed his arms. "It is about our mother." Kadaj's expression softened and he nodded._

"_I do not like being imprisoned in such a weak vessel." Kadaj scowled._

"_This isn't about you." Sephiroth chuckled._

"_That is correct fledgling." Kadaj hated that, how condescending he sounded even when he was being agreeable. "This is about something much bigger."_

Yuffie took the sword from the indignant woman irritably. She turned around.

"Look! Kadaj, I got the-" she stopped when she saw him sitting slumped over on the ground, obviously unconcious...or something.

"This isn't about you." that was what he said. Yuffie realized that it must be like the last time. She turned for the door, realizing that this was her time to escape. But as she hobbled to the doorway she couldn't go through the door. She looked back at him. She couldn't leave him like that. She knew that normally she'd have no problem leaving. Heck, she'd probably steal his sword again. But now, she couldn't just leave him, and like that. She wondered why she was wasting her time on such a jerk.

"Ah hell, psycho must be contagious." she said as she hobbled over to where Kadaj lay.

"_Something bigger..."_

"_Yes. But it all starts with mother. That, is on your shoulders. Well, you Yazoo and Loz."_

"_I know that." Kadaj said through his teeth._

"_Oh yes, I'm sure you do."_

Yuffie poked Kadaj.

"Wake up." No luck. She called out to him.

_Kadaj looked up very suddenly. "What was that?"_

"_Just a distraction. But I'm sure you know all about those." Kadaj stood up._

"_What is that supposed to mean?" Sephiroth stood up too, slowly raising to his intimidating full height. He walked up to the younger, until he was towering over him._

Grasping his hands, Yuffie tried to shake him awake.

"_You know what it means Kadaj. There is no room for failure." Kadaj didn't say anything back. "Do it for the reunion, do it for yourself." There was something about the way he'd said the last word._

"_Myself?" Sephiroth scowled._

"_So many questions, so little time. All you need to know is that if you do this right, we could coexist." It was the most straightforward thing he'd ever said to him, but it worried him. Coexist? Did that mean.._

"_Don't hurt yourself, It really is an easy concept. Naturally, for me to come about there will be some risk. There is only one body...you, me, me, you. The choice is so terribly hard. Don't you think? There's a chance for both of us, but that is in mother's power. And as you can imagine, mother isn't too pleased with you." Kadaj felt his stomach drop._

_There was a chance that he wasn't even going to make it out of the reunion alive? Why hadn't his mother told him? He thought back to her words. 'Did Sephiroth say something to you?' She'd known. She'd known and she hadn't told him anything about it. _

_There was a possibility he was going to turn into Sephiroth? What about him? He got up from the floor and looked at his amused older brother._

"_Why did you tell me this?" Kadaj asked sourly._

"_Just think of it as a little incentive." he said before Kadaj felt his surroundings leaving him and the world around him melting away._

A face was slowly coming into view, and a pair of indigo eyes. He looked up at her, dazed. He was breathing hard and so was she.

"You were doing that weird thing again, really freaked me out." Kadaj started to return to himself and he looked down at their laced fingers and so did she. They looked at each other. Kadaj gently unhooked his fingers from hers, grabbing Souba and standing up. Just that mild mannerism in its own alerted her that something wasn't right.

"Come." it was all he said to her and she went, sensing that it wasn't the time to push her luck. She noted with some ire, that he didn't even bother to help her hobble back to the hotel. But then again, she wasn't sure about him at the moment. He was acting so strange. Maybe it was the calm before the storm.

Kadaj felt so much like a ghost as he walked back, but as time passed so did that feeling and it slowly morphed into rage, confusion, and feeling like he had been betrayed. He figured he needed to make some arrangements, so he opened his phone...

When they reached the hotel, Yuffie collapsed onto the bed. Kadaj went somewhere to fiddle in the corner and Yuffie watched with tired eyes. She hadn't even noticed Kadaj had moved until she felt his hand on her ankle. She gave a jolt and was a bit on edge until she saw the green materia in his hand.

The pain in her ankle and most of her body was quickly relieved and she sighed happily.

"It's about time." she muttered. "Well, I guess this is goodbye." she said hopefully.

He yawned.

"Not quite, we're staying here tonight." Yuffie's eyes popped open.

"Wha..what!" Yuffie looked around. "Where are Loz and Yazoo?"

"I got them a room of their own, I'm keeping an eye on you." Yuffie was so very close to freaking out. She was going to have a psycho watching her through the night. Well, things couldn't get any worse could they?

(A/N: Wow, long chapter. This chapter is more a chapter of progression/ recognition. I really hope you guys enjoyed it. Thanks for the motivation/reviews. They are so appreciated. And I'd like to hear what you have to say about this one. Ciao for now. Sleep now.)


	10. Speed

Yuffie unconsciously slouched and wrapped her arms around herself to hide herself or at least avoid his omnipresent gaze. It was more than annoying to find that no matter how many minutes passed his eyes would remain on her, those strange bright eyes staring out of the darkness. She didn't even feel comfortable enough to lay down, get under covers or change into her pajamas. So there she was just sitting up against the headboard of her bed, watching him watch her.

"Will you stop it?" There was silence, in which he still continued to watch her. "Come on, it's getting kind of freaky now. Like it wasn't before..." his gaze remained unwavering. There were so many things he needed to think about, to figure out. With his mother, with everything. At this point in time, he felt like everything was being ripped away from him. He watched Yuffie, as if he might suddenly find the answer to what it was about her that- "Stop staring at me damnit!" Yuffie exploded. "You don't have to watch me every minute!" He shifted on his bed, looking to the ceiling.

"Yes, perhaps I don't even have to watch you at all. I don't think you'll run, not even you are that stupid."

" I liked you better when you were depressed." Yuffie huffed. Kadaj narrowed his eyes.

"What are you talking about?" The tone of his voice had sharpened quite a bit, but Yuffie was never one to take a hint.

"You know, after you were freaking out on the wall I-"

"Quiet, you don't know anything!" Kadaj said harshly. Yuffie inhaled, now feeling quite stupid for actually being a little concerned for him. She wished she'd just left him there.

"You are so ungrateful!" she jumped out of bed and attempted to turn the light on. He was right where she was a second later, blocking her access to the lamp. "What are y-"

"The lights stay off. And how am I ungrateful?" he said viciously. She could almost feel the bite in his voice. Yuffie tried to push passed him but he was steady where he stood.

"I-" Yuffie kept her words. Now that she actually had to put her reasons into words, it sounded horribly sappy and kind of embarrassing. She couldn't very well tell him that she had been concerned for him, even if only slightly. He would probably laugh at her anyway. "Move out of my way." she said, reaching behind him to turn the lamp. He pushed her arm away.

"Answer the question." he said, eyes much brighter up close. Yuffie's breath caught in her throat and she remained silent, looking down at the floor she could hardly see. There only indication that it was even there was the feel of solid ground under her feet. He could see very well in the dark and he saw her look around, anywhere but at him.

"I wish I _had _run." she said under her breath. But he heard. He took one more step towards her.

"I would have liked to see you try." Yuffie balled her fists.

"Bastard.". He suddenly caught her eye and was reminded of her curious gaze just about an hour prior when he was sitting on the floor of the pawn shop, after Sephiroth had taken it upon himself to play messenger. He suddenly caught on.

"I don't need your help." he said quietly. Yuffie snapped her head up.

"Well...good! Because I would never help you. You don't deserve it anyway." she said indignantly, knowing her words were contradicting her earlier actions. Kadaj scoffed.

"The day I need help from a human..."

"You needed it today." she shot back. He was silent, watching her reproachfully.

He turned on the light, shoved her away from him.

"Get away from me." he said. He didn't need anyone's help. Yuffie glared at him.

"Get awa- what!? You're the one who constantly feels the need put your hands all over me!" Kadaj blinked, a bit taken aback. Mainly because he realized it was completely true.

"And yet you seem to enjoy it." He said nastily, Yuffie couldn't believe what he was implying.

"Only in your wildest dreams Kadaj." He smirked.

" Should you be so lucky." Yuffie narrowed her eyes.

"Oh yeah, I'm just dying for you to try and _molest_ me again." Kadaj's mouth fell open.

Yazoo sat up in the darkness, annoyed. And then he heard Loz groan somewhere in the corner.

"Have they been at it all night?" Yazoo asked. Loz sighed.

Actually, no. But now-" Loz was interrupted by a loud crash in their room. "Yeah, that."

"If he doesn't kill her soon, I'll do it myself." Loz laughed and Yazoo was silent. They could hear more bickering start up in Kadaj and Yuffie's room.

"Kadaj wouldn't let you." Yazoo shook his head.

"I know."

"Why though?"

"I do not know Loz." Loz was quiet for a bit and Yazoo laid back down to try to fall asleep again.

"What about mother?" Yazoo's eyes snapped open, he was sure he'd heard the heavy swallowing sound that Loz always made before he started crying.

"Let us hope that this is just an aberration." Both brothers knew that when Kadaj's mind was set, there was no stopping him.

"I hope so." Yazoo noticed that Loz's words were a bit gargled.

"Loz, don't-" Loz quickly wiped away a tear that had escaped.

"I'm not." Yazoo pulled his covers back on.

"Right."

Yuffie blew a feather out of her bangs.

"I'm not paying for this mess." Kadaj looked at the glass that was scattered around the floor.

"You don't have to worry about that." Kadaj smirked.

"That was a nice fruit bowl...hey, what do you mean by that?"

"What do you think I paid for Loz and Yazoo's room with?" he said looking her square in the eye. Yuffie rolled her eyes disbelievingly and scoffed. She crossed her arms looked out of the window into the dark blue sky. But the more time passed she started to have her doubts. She would've known if he taken her money right? Being a ninja she would've noticed something like that right? Of course she would! But then again...

She looked into her pockets and was more than shocked to see them empty. She looked closer and starting digging with the tips of her fingers only to find nothing. She slowly looked up to his smug face.

"You asshole! You stole my money!" Yuffie tried to figure out when it could've happened but she couldn't think of anything. That bothered her a lot.

"Like you stole my sword?" Yuffie's eyes widened.

"But...that's...different!" she stomped her foot. Kadaj was only mildly amused and he humored her.

"How so?" Yuffie's brow wrinkled.

Because! I'm The Great Ninja Yuffie, damnit!" Kadaj raised an eyebrow.

"That justifies your thievery?" Yuffie looked up, dumbfounded.

"Wow, are _you_ giving me a lesson in morals?" she laughed. Kadaj shrugged, now bored of the conversation. He turned his back on her and apparently it was the wrong thing to do. Because as soon as him back was turned she tackled him right into the table. Not being sturdy in the first place it broke under the impact. They both toppled to the ground and Kadaj got up qucikly, looking at her like she was insane.

"You really _are_ stupid." He started to advance on her, but when interrupted by the sudden appearance of another clerk of the hotel.

"Just what is going on here!?" Yuffie laughed nervously and looked at Kadaj.

"You just had to make all that noise!" she whispered harshly. Kadaj glared.

"Me? you have some-"

"Excuse me! You two better do some explaining!" the proprietor said angrily, raking a hand through his frazzled hair.

"I'll explain to him alright..." Kadaj said running a hand down his sword. Yuffie gasped, instantly thinking about Yazoo shooting that man in the club.

"Kadaj, don't-"

"What makes you think you can tell me what to do?"

"They'll kick us out-"

"Excuse me! I'm getting complaints from almost every room on this level-" Kadaj advanced on the man.

"I don't like your tone." he said nastily. The man eyed the sword warily. And when he spotted the silver hair, he started taking steps back. Smiling Kadaj moved closer to proprietor. "And I don't appreciate being interrupted."

The man moved a couple paces back.

"S..s..sorry...I-"

"Should leave before I feel the need to remove you myself." The man moved towards the door and tripped. Kadaj might have even allowed him to get up but what came out of the man's mouth next eliminated that chance.

"S..s..Sephiroth?" Kadaj frowned.

"Wrong answer." Kadaj brought his sword down in a clean arc and before she knew it Yuffie was watching the man's head roll across the floor. She covered her mouth to veil the scream.

"Oops, it slipped." Kadaj said, watching as the headless body sank to the ground.

"Dude! What the hell!" Yuffie screamed. Okay, this vacation officially sucked. The shock had a numbing effect and she found that she couldn't cry, scream or lash out at him. She just stood there watching as he walked over the head and picked it up by the hair. She was breathing so hard, her throat was starting to hurt and suddenly she felt the urge to throw up everything she'd eaten, ever. Kadaj held up the head and looked at her.

"His blood is on your hands." Kadaj smiled viciously. Yuffie turned away. "This didn't have to happen. It's a shame." he said with pseudo sympathy.

"I have to use the bathroom." Kadaj smiled as she ran passed him.

When the door shut he dropped the head and fell onto his bed. There were so many things he didn't understand. How many dirty humans were there that one loss was so tremendous? Kadaj's whole body tensed and the familiar fiery feeling returned to all of his limbs.

"_I'm pleased to see that you haven't lost all of your backbone." a cold voice snapped._

"_Mother?"_

"_Honestly Kadaj, who else would it be?" Kadaj was going to bring up that they hadn't talked in an eternity, but he held his tongue. "Lately you've been consistently disappointing." Kadaj was silent. "And I'm starting to believe that you don't want this reunion as much as the rest of us."_

"_No, I want it more than anything." Kadaj said desperately._

"_Then why is that filth still living? I told you that she would slow you down, but you were certain she would help. But now she is a flaw in the plan. We don't have room for flaws and I want her eliminated." Kadaj was ashamed. "Sephiroth wouldn't have had this problem."_

_Kadaj suddenly thought back to their conversation._

"_Am I going to die, mother?" he asked. Jenova was caught off guard. "Am I going to die?"_

"_What ever would have given you that idea?" Just by her voice Kadaj knew he was treading on thin ice, but he had to know._

"_Sephiroth." it almost seemed to echo. _

"_What did he tell you?" This question sent of red flags all over the place._

"_That you were going to make a choice, he was lying right?" he was hopeful but at the same time he felt it coming, the answer he didn't want to hear. Jenova was silent. "Mother, tell me he lied." Silence still. _

"_Sephiroth has no need to lie." she said. "But there is a chance of coexistence." What she didn't mention was that the chance was slim. Very slim. But Kadaj hadn't heard the last part, all he heard was the confession. There was something about hearing it from his mother that really made it real._

"_You...weren't going to tell me were you?" Kadaj was slowly starting to feel angry, and emotion he'd never felt towards his mother._

"_It was hardly necessary-"_

"_But he knew." Kadaj snapped. Jenova snapped back._

"_Listen child, ingrates don't get special treatment. And neither do incompetent sons."_ Kadaj narrowed his eyes,_ he_ was ungrateful? Not once had he even heard a thankyou and he hadn't even wanted one. All he wanted was her, a mother. Now there was a chance he wouldn't even have that. Kadaj closed his eyes and tried to calm down, but instead he felt himself getting angrier. He'd never felt so betrayed in his life. So conflicted. He closed his eye's as his head started to throb harder than it ever had. He willed it to go away and he heard Jenova's voice fading in volume.

It was the first and last time he would ever block her out.

Yuffie stood under the steady stream of water, finding a shower was great to clear the mind after she hadn't had one in days. After having searched the bathroom for any kind of means of escape, Yuffie decided to take a shower after she found none. She let the water run down her naked form, thinking of the two deaths she'd witnessed. She didn't understand how they could take someone's life like it was nothing.

She didn't think she would ever get it out of her mind. She should've known Kadaj would spurn her efforts to help. She felt so stupid and so angry about everything he'd done. But the more she got to know him, he began to distance himself from the shadow she'd seen him in. General Sephiroth's shadow. She was beginning to see a person that was uniquely him, and she well...didn't know how to feel about that. She leaned against the wall and watched the suds disappear down the drain. She made up her mind, this craziness had to end, she had to get out.

She wrapped her towel around her and exited the bathroom in a veil of steam. Walking to the drawer she tried to find her pajamas. Looking over her shoulder she spied Kadaj lying lazily on his bed. He was looking up at the ceiling, muttering to himself. She wondered if he was doing that freaky thing again.

"Where are my clothes?" she said to herself, but Kadaj heard. He sat up and began to speak.

"I was going to-" he stopped when he saw her state of dress. All that bare white skin and that flimsy towel he could probably yank off with the tiniest effort...shit, what was wrong with him? He felt the trace of that physical desire he had been feeling off and on in his time with her. And though he rejected it, he couldn't undo whatever her form was doing to him. He knew that Sephiroth had enjoyed those pleasures of the flesh, and wanted to blame this on his influence, but part of him knew it was just an excuse. Could he possibly be physically attracted to this girl? He hadn't thought of that once, and it repulsed and intrigued him simultaneously.

Yuffie waited for him to finish.

"Hey, my eyes are up here." she smiled and he coughed, getting up from the bed and walking towards the bathroom.

"It's not as if there's much to look at." Yuffie wanted to punch him in the face. Not all girls were built like Tifa.

"Then don't look." Kadaj sighed.

"I locked all of your clothes in the drawer." Yuffie was horrified.

"W- why? Give me the key!" Kadaj raised an eyebrow.

"No."

"Why?" Yuffie crossed her arms over her body.

"I don't think that even you would run away without any clothes." Yuffie pouted.

"How did you know I wouldn't come out dressed?"

"I took your clothes while you were in the shower." Yuffie's mouth fell open. Why hadn't she heard him? Why didn't she notice her clothes hadn't been there? Why had he been in the bathroom while she was showering?!

"You pervert! How dare you-" Kadaj scoffed.

"Don't flatter yourself." Yuffie frowned and Kadaj disappeared into the bathroom.

Yuffie sighed and sat down on the bed, not believing her luck. But suddenly she spotted his keys on the table.

Kadaj ran his hands through his water heavy hair, delighting in the feel of the hot, clean water showering down on him. He didn't really want to think about anything. He didn't want to think of the betrayal, the rivalry, nothing.

Yuffie picked up the keys and walked as quietly as she could to the door. She stopped there for a bit and considered going back in and waiting. But she was determined to leave it all behind and she left, shutting the door softly behind her. She ran down the hallway, bare feet pounding against the thin carpet of the hallway. The keys jingled in her hand and she ran and her heart matched her footsteps. She skidded to an halt, made sure her towel was secure and entered the elevator.

Yuffie ran out of the building to find that the rain had at least stopped and she ran across the wet ground to the parking lot, knowing this would be the hardest part. Finding his damn bike.

Yuffie ran all around finding she was really getting chilly. Try as she may she just couldn't find one monstrous motorcycle. But lo and behold when she turned around, there they were. Now which one...She turn the key in each one the noise of the engine, making her look around constantly. She knew she only had limited time.

Kadaj stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around his waist, still trying to shake the thoughts he was having. He paused when he heard what was going on in the room, which was nothing. He knew silence and Yuffie didn't mix, so he started to suspect something was up.

He opened the door just a crack and looked out. No one, no movement.

He flew out of the bathroom and looked around. No one. He almost panicked, when he realized their whole plan might be in jeopardy because she was free but, instead he calmed down and grabbed his sword. Noticing his keys were gone he headed out of the room in just a towel as well and started for the lot, knowing she couldn't have gotten too far.

Yuffie struggled to stabilize herself on the bike and pushed the key in, turning it and listening to the engine roar. She felt it roll through her body and suddenly she began to feel the beginnings of nausea. How could she have forgotten her motion sickness? Kadaj decided not to use the elevator and instead he ran down the stairs. Yuffie sucked it up and decided that it was now or never. She would have to push the motion sickness aside for now. She just hoped it would work.

"Come on you stupid thing...go!" The motorcycle was off and she nearly ran into the wall a couple times, but she managed to get on the road soon enough. She wasn't on the road for long when it started to rain again. She just hoped she could get to some place where she could call for help.

Kadaj ran out of the hotel just in time to see her zoom off and he ran after her in the rain, determined to catch her. But Yuffie wasn't faring well anyway and she started to feel woozy and very nauseous. She began to feel dizzy and the world started to blur and spin around her. Mixed with her horrible driving skills, it wasn't long before she ran right into a huge tree.

She fell off the motorcycle and in the dirt, but pulling her self onto her feet she believed she could try and push the motorcycle away from the tree. With the front wheel still spinning she pushed, slipping and falling into what was now mud. It was not her day. She picked herself up and tried again but something pulled at her from behind and before she knew it she was laying in the middle of the road.

Still feeling sick she got out of the road and stopped dead in her tracks when she saw Kadaj pulling the key out of the ignition. He turned around and she was sure she'd never seen him to mad and so...naked. Okay, well there was the towel but damn...he was actually pretty ripped. She felt as if she was in the middle of some really nutty dream.

But the pain was real when he missed slicing her arm off by an inch. Instead he sliced the skin, and it hurt like hell.

"Get on the bike." Yuffie hesitated, knowing she was in for it. But he wasn't having it. "Now!" He said pointing his sword at her neck. Yuffie moved to get on because something in her, was telling her that he would kill her this time if she refused. And in truth, he just might have. The rain had soaked then both to the bone and the ride back wasn't a pleasant one.

He was so beyond angry when he got back to the hotel that he didn't waste any time and he immediately unsheathed his sword and took a swipe at her. The possibility that it all could've been ruined thanks to her had pushed him beyond rational thought and the only reason he hadn't killed her yet was because he was so angry he was becoming sloppy. Yuffie dodged each one like a ghost, which was pretty much what she felt like.

Somewhere between driving down the deserted road and being thrown onto the hotel floor it all seemed like a dream and she ran into the bathroom as an array of color blew passed her and her fast moving feet. She closed the door behind her, pushing her back against the wall, her ears filled with the sound of her heart. She made sure her towel was secure and watched as the door burst open in what seemed like slow motion.

This dreamlike feeling always followed her recovery after a bad bout of motion sickness, but she was seemingly not coming out of it. She saw a flash of metal and she thought it was over. But when nothing came she opened her eyes to see his sword fall to the floor.

"I will _not _allow you to-" she swallowed, nausea abating.

"I do what I want." she snapped, her vision clearing. His hands were around her throat like that, her back against the wall.

"You won't be _doing_ anything once I'm done with you." Yuffie coughed and began to see dark spots. Despite this she had to have the last word.

'You're...wrong." his grip loosened at the words, his eyes wild. "You're wrong." she repeated.

"Shut up!" he bared his teeth, hands suddenly shaking. He looked deeply troubled and his mouth trembled, practically right against hers. Her heart jumped at the contact and he looked as if he might've heard the little pause in her heartbeat. "Shut up." he said softly, right against her lips.

She swallowed, eyes wide.

"Ka-" his hands pinned her shoulders to the wall and he pinned her hips with his own.

"What did I say?" His mouth was suddenly over hers, moving kind of hesitantly like he didn't know how. Almost without her permission she responded to him with her own hesitance, kind of wanting to push him away from her, kind of wanting him to keep on kissing her like that. But when his fingers swept up her neck, and his mouth became a bit more insistent, Yuffie turned her head away, feeling it getting way too intense, not to mention the whole situation was just way too _weird._ Kadaj looked at her, stepping back. How could this be happening to him? _What_ was happening to him?

(A/N: Sorry for the wait guys! I've been trying to put my first ever fanfiction to bed. But I did get some inspiration just recently and I got right on it. Honestly, I'm still toying with what's happening in the next chapter but it's pretty much set. I hope you liked this chapter. I always have so much fun writing this. I thought it would be interesting to write a falling out between Kadaj and Jenova because what relationship doesn't have it's tough spots? Especially one as delicate and temperamental as that one. Please tell me how you liked it. Ciao for now.)


	11. Velocity

Kadaj couldn't ever remember losing his head like this and that was the reason why the hatred for Yuffie was still so present. Just considering what had just happened, he realized that somehow she'd gotten to him. And not only that but he recalled his failed attempt to kill her, which made him even angrier. And of course somehow his teenaged body translated that anger into more sexual frustration. And the more aroused he became the angrier he got.

Yuffie couldn't take her eyes off of him. There really_ was _no justice in the world. What gave him the right to look so...good? What happened? He looked so skinny in his clothes!

"You know, I think I'm gonna catch some z's." Yuffie said curtly, deliberately looking away from Kadaj's form. She yawned and left the bathroom, trying to ignore the awkwardness.

Yuffie lay on her belly on her own bed, her face propped up in her hands. She glared at the closed drawer containing her clothes. What was the big idea anyway? All she wanted was the key so she could get dressed. Getting up she tried to pry the locked drawer open, wiggling, shaking and pulling the knob with all of her strength.

Glancing towards the bathroom she noticed Kadaj hadn't come out yet and she pulled harder and more frantically managing to budge it just a crack. Pushing her fingers in as far as they would go she managed to pull out some underclothes, but as hard as she tried she couldn't get the thicker material of her outside clothing out.

Raking her hands through her hair angrily she kicked the drawer, only realizing afterwards how much noise she was making. Wincing and glancing to the bathroom she gave it up and stepped into the kitchen to put her underclothes on behind the fridge. Once she was done she went out into the main part, carefully stepping over the blood stains in the carpet.

Kadaj still wasn't out of the bath room, but Yuffie knew it wasn't the time to attempt escape. Actually, she was more concerned about her current clothing situation. She felt exposed enough after that little interlude in the bathroom.

Goddamned Kadaj. Him and his... lips...Yuffie shook her head. What the hell was wrong with her? There were almost too many things wrong with this whole thing to name. Yuffie despised him for everything he made her feel, even the things she didn't understand. Not once did she think that maybe the attraction to him that wasn't purely physical, was coming about because they were strangely alike.

She was more likely to toss herself off of the tallest building before ever admitting any such thing. Hugging her towel closer to herself over her underclothes, she wondered what she should do. Then she spotted something in the corner, a jackolantern like grin taking over her face.

Kadaj splashed some icy water on his body, drying off his face with one of the rough towels hanging up. Looking at himself in the mirror he watched his reflection frown back at him as if admonishing him for the things he knew he shouldn't be feeling.

Suddenly he heard voices in his head, slightly muted but too distinct to miss.

"_Just what did you think you were doing?!"_ Kadaj rubbed his temples, it sounded a lot like his mother and yet he wasn't sure the question had been directed at him.

"_The way I see it, the only way to make any progress is to take matters into my own hands."_ _That_, definitely hadn't been his mother. The voices left his head and he walked out of the bathroom, his steps halting immediately at the sight before him. Was she wearing...? Yuffie paid him no mind, only continued to lay there in his clothes, arms crossed.

"Take them off, _now_." he said through his teeth. He couldn't believe her! Who did she think she was? Putting on _his_ clothes! Kadaj was very clearly angry but Yuffie defied him, her fingers picking at the straps on the front of the piece of clothing.

"I don't think so." He approached the bed in furious, angry strides, promptly grabbing her by the straps of her...his top, yanking her to him.

"It's not an option. Take. It. Off." Yuffie pushed him away.

"No. I'm not taking this off until you let me get my clothes." She said rubbing her side.

"Oh really?" Yuffie watched him carefully, not seeing how he couldn't comply. But he was as stubborn she was and in a move she hadn't expected, he had her pinned to the bed and was attempting to take it off himself. He pulled down the zipper quickly, despite her constant struggling.

"What are you...hands off!" He tried pulling back the top but Yuffie kicked him in the stomach and he doubled over, surprised by the unexpected power in the kick. But he quickly recovered and tried pulling her arms out of the sleeves. When that didn't exactly go as planned, he went for the pants instead and started to pull them off too, halting when Yuffie started giggling under him. She stopped and looked up at him with wide eyes. He tried to get them off again and she started giggling again.

"St...stop that! It tickles!" Kadaj gave her a strange look and finally removed the pants, the breath catching in his throat. _Shit_, that familiar heat came rushing back. She was still halfway in his clothes, but the rest was...she had _little characters_ on her underwear...

When Yuffie realized she was being ogled, her cheeks grew hot and she sat up, nearly bumping heads with Kadaj.

"Stop it." she said covering herself unconsciously. He looked at her strangely.

"Stop what exactly?"

"Staring at me like I'm a piece of meat, that's what!"

"That's not what I was doing." he said, though his eyes were still glued to her half naked form. He rubbed his temples, feeling like he had a fever of some sort. "Take my clothes off. Now." he looked away. Yuffie nearly choked.

"Why would I do that? You're not even wearing an-"

"The clothes that you're wearing, you idiot. My clothes." Her face reddened.

"Yeah, I knew that was what you meant...and no, these clothes stay on until I have my clothes."

"If you don't, I'll take them off myself." Gaia, he wanted to avoid that though. He gave her a few seconds in which she did nothing but question what to do. She was kind of damned if she did, damned if she didn't. He placed his hands on her shoulders, eyes flicking between her body and her face. Pushing the top part from her shoulders was easy enough as slight as she was, and she only watched as he pulled the sleeves from her arms, strangely compliant.

In the silence, he actually looked at her for the first time. She wasn't so unremarkable closer up.

She had these dark, almond shaped eyes he'd never seen once on a person, and a rather sleek graceful build. He might think she _were _ninja had he not seen her in action.

"Gaia, what's with you and staring?" she said frowning. Kind of freaked out by the way he was looking at her, no one had ever looked at her like that. She thought about his kiss just moments before, wondering if he would try to do that again. Instead he turned away from her and threw his leathers to the floor. She felt a little funny to be only in her underclothes, but realized his own state of dress and didn't feel so badly about it. He was about to go and leave for his own bed, but she stopped him.

"Wait!" she blinked, feeling like it had come out of her mouth by itself. She stood up and he turned around, bemused. Honestly, she didn't know why she had called out to him, maybe she was getting too used to his presence. The lights flickered off and then on again. Probably because of the storm. She rubbed her arm. "I..." she wasn't sure what she was going to say. The light flickered again.

"Go to bed, Yuffie." he said as suddenly the room went black. She stared ahead, watching the faint glow of his eyes in the dark. She moved toward him and grabbed his arm.

"I can't go to sleep." she said bitterly. Kadaj remembered her saying the same thing some nights ago.

"Why not?" he said, sounding irritated.

"I just can't okay?" Kadaj turned to fully face her.

"You were sleeping when I found you." He could see her looking away from him.

"Some nights I just can't." Yuffie didn't want to think about some the nightmares she'd had since leaving home, nightmares about her father, about her land, and now about...

"It's me, isn't it." fear was as palpable to him as his own skin. Funnily enough at the moment he felt no joy over her surprising fear.

"You remind me so much of him." he didn't have to ask who. He was still trying to find a way out of Sephiroth's shadow. he wasn't really sure what she expected him to do about that, how attaching herself to him would help the matter any.

"I'm not Sephiroth." he said dangerously.

"I know that." she said quiet. _It makes it harder to just hate you the more I realize it._

"How do you know that?" he said suspicious, but wanting to see how and if she could set him apart from his infamous brother.

"Because I remember him alright? You're a different person." Kadaj could not help but be pleased. A different person...

"Better?" he asked.

"Worse." she said, rolling her eyes. The edge of Kadaj's mouth twitched. She watched his shaodwed face in the darkness, before deciding to take a risk. Yuffie tugged on his arm and leaned up a little until she could feel his breath against her face. She kissed his lips but found he wasn't responding, and was quickly embarrassed and kind of insulted as she pulled away from him. There wasn't really anything to say in such a situation, and she started to retreat to her bed, but he grabbed her hand and pulled her back, turning her around and pushing her back onto his bed.

She bounced back on her elbows, kind of wary of the situation.

"Hey, we're not-"

"Yuffie, don't talk anymore." he said crawling over her. She pouted.

"_Rude._" she said, watching his shadow as he brushed her hair out of her face, started to run his fingers down her neck. Like he was studying, like he'd never seen a girl before. He was rapt, and currently too willing to rebel a little to resist her, but even as the very physical thing drove him on, he remembered who she was and who he was and still could not help the mild repulsion at what he was doing. He couldn't help but hate her a little bit more, and loathe himself too.

It was a conundrum.

When his touches traveled lower, Yuffie slapped him away from her breasts, still not entirely sure what he had in mind. She wasn't sure if she should be letting him do just this, it seemed crazy, but she wasn't immune to what felt good, and one thing about this whole thing was that it definitely...

"Kadaj!" He cocked an eyebrow but did not stop the hands that were currently tracing the insides of her thighs. It was the softest skin yet.

"You ticklish there too?" he said, knowing she wasn't, moving his hand higher. Yuffie wanted him to stop, but didn't at the same time.

"No...I..." a stifled sigh, and a leg spasm were his reward.

"Then be quiet." Gaia, could the girl ever keep her mouth closed? He ran his hands down her sides and she shivered, and he did it again just to get that same reaction. She jumped when his fingers began to follow some invisible trail increasingly further south than she thought he would or should get. She wasn't sure what she could deny him anymore.

"_Who do you think you are!"_ the voices came to him again. He held his head in pain, doubling over as the cacophony on voices assaulted him. He heard a female voice call out to him. Then it all came rushing to him, words somehow connected and yet so scattered.

"_I grow impatient."_

"_We don't need them..."_

"_...thought I could persuade him.."_

"_Together..."_

"_Never worthy of your love."_

"_Over confidence is the downfall of every..."_ Kadaj held his head, his face filled with pain. So loud... What did it all mean? Whatever it was brought him back to a more familiar state of mind.

He finally opened his eyes, looking into Yuffie's apprehensive face. She had her hands on his arms and he violently shrugged her off, a nearly murderous look in his eyes.

"Don't touch me." he spat. Yuffie moved away from him looking slightly confused. She spotted the glint of the key on his bedside table. She got it quickly and hid it in her hand. She spared him one last look and got in bed, turning her back to him and quickly falling to sleep.

In true Kadaj fashion what had been one thing was suddenly something else entirely and it was over, just like that.

Kadaj was up for a while after she was asleep trying to decipher everything. He pulled out his cell phone, a plan forming in his head. He believed the man who'd called him on his phone had been...Cid?

He sorted through the names, finally dialing the right number. The man answered and his voice was that same as he remembered. Glancing over to Yuffie he made sure she was still asleep. He answered back stating that he still had that cold and that's why he sounded so strange. He hadn't expected the man to really buy it, but he did (he sounded kind of drowsy) and Kadaj was thankful. Kadaj asked a few questions about the whereabouts of Cloud and Cid gave him what he needed. It was really that easy.

Cid went on to tell him that he should get the cold checked out because he still sounded like a 'fucking guy.' Kadaj hung up immediately after that. He took Souba then and poised it over the body of the sleeping ninja. He had a new sense of direction and purpose. The voices had brought him back to the normalcy he was used to and he knew that even if he might not live, he had to do this for his brothers, his mother and the legacy. But he couldn't bring the sword down and he figured he would just do it in the morning.

"_Do you not care for your brothers?"_ The voices invaded again and Kadaj found he really wanted to know what the response would be to the question. But the only response that came was a shout of cruel laughter.

He got up some hours later, feeling a little tired. He got dressed quietly and made sure he had everything first before finishing the task he knew had to get done. Picking up Souba he told himself to get it over with. But as he walked towards her bed his steps seemed harder to take. He was going to do it. His face lacked any kind of emotion as he brought the double blade up and he brought the blade down in a smooth quick motion. The blade pierced her body a lot easier than he would've thought but he put it out of his mind. The deed was done.

He promptly walked out, shutting the door behind him, oblivious to the eyes that watched him from the shadows.

He walked out and met his brothers just where he told them to be and he immediately took off on his now scratched bike, trying to leave the place as fast as he possibly could.

She watched him leave and as soon as she was sure he was gone she came out from behind the fridge to pull the ruined pillows out from under her covers. She knew she was lucky it was dark and that he had probably been tired. He hadn't even thought to look for blood had he? She was thankful that he'd woken her up with his first attempt to kill her in her sleep, or else she'd probably be dead.

And even though she hadn't been her under the covers, he thought she had been. He was a murderer and she knew she couldn't really expect him to spare her life, but at the same time she expected _something_ from him. That was stupid and she knew it but as she looked down on the feathers of the open pillow she couldn't help the feeling of betrayal.

"You bastard." It was the last thing she said before she left, heading towards Edge.

(A/N: Well, this chapter has gone through so much transformation. This story was initially going to end on chapter twelve, but as it usually goes with this particular story, more ideas popped into my head. I love this one and find that it basically writes itself, so I'm sitting here kind of wondering how I'm gonna pull it off. What's going to happen? But I do have _some_ plans to go on, and I'm very excited about them. Thank you all for sticking with me, I appreciate your comments very much. I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Adios for now.)


	12. Cessation

The sound of the engine flooded his ears as he sped down the road, heading towards his destination. He could feel his brothers following close behind, but for the most part he kept a bit of space between himself and his brothers. He could hardly even keep his eyes on the road as his eyes fought against his efforts to keep them open, the sight of the road slipping fast beneath his wheels serving no purpose but to lull him even farther to sleep.

Yazoo saw Kadaj's bike make a dangerous swerve and he sped up until he was next to him, Loz followed suite.

"Kadaj." He spoke over the wind. Kadaj looked over, rasing his eyebrows irritably.

"What?"

"I think we need to stop." Yazoo said and Kadaj frowned, turning back to face the road.

"No." Kadaj watched as the white lines sailed passed him. He needed to get as far away from the place as he could, he _needed_ to do his job.

"Kadaj-" Loz tried this time, seeing that his brother really needed some rest. Kadaj shot him a look which clearly meant that the subject was closed. Kadaj sped up ahead, even more irritated. When had his brothers gotten so bold? He bitterly recalled the fine balance that had existed between them. Before that girl... Kadaj shook his head trying to forget her and the tight knot in his stomach that he felt every time he thought about what he'd done. He couldn't even wrap his mind around the feeling. He'd killed more people than he could count on his fingers and there had been nothing.

There was just this terrible gut wrenching feeling and a pain he couldn't quite describe as physical. It had been hard enough to bring himself to do it, which was bad enough. But now it was over and there was still something there. Would it ever end? He felt like he was being haunted and he already had enough ghosts to deal with.

He took a sharp turn and looked back to where his brothers were riding behind him. Then everything started to blur around the edges and he gripped the handlebars practically feeling the blood moving through his veins. The transition was rough like usual and he landed hard on his back. He picked himself up and looked around the dark place, eyes passing over the many books around him, some which were scattered on the ground.

"_I didn't think I would have to speak with you again." Sephiroth said from across the room. _

"_I don't have time for this." Kadaj said, looking away from the man._

"_But you have time to waste on that girl, is that it?" Kadaj said nothing. Sephiroth ran a long finger down one of the spines of the books, watching the golden lettering appear from the dust. _

"_What do you want?" he said irritably. The corners of the older man's mouth tugged upward only for a second._

"_The same thing you want." Sephiroth said darkly. "Or...I thought it was. Tell me Kadaj, was I mistaken?" He didn't look at him, but Kadaj knew that the answer to his question had better be no. _

"_No." Kadaj said through his teeth. _

"_Was I unclear about failure on your part?" Kadaj's calm was slowly dissipating. Who was he to lecture him? He wasn't their mother. _

"_No."_

"_Well then, I expect you to keep your mind where it should be. I just hate having to repeat myself." Kadaj's patience snapped._

"_Who do you think you are?" The words came out before he could think better of it. Kadaj watched as Sephiroth finally raised his head to look at him. He didn't know what he expected but he certainly didn't expect the older to let his words just roll off of his back. _

"_I should ask you the same thing." He hadn't seen it coming, hell, he never did, but before he could evade his attack Masamune was pinning him to the wall by his collar. He watched as Sephiroth approached him.. Kadaj nearly pulled the sword out from the wall, but before he could Sephiroth put a hand on his chest to hold him there. Kadaj scowled._

"_Don't touch me." the words gave him an awful feeling of deja vu. Sephiroth looked down on him._

"_Of course, only your little Wutain princess is allowed to do that right?" Kadaj remembered Yuffie mentioning something about a place called Wutai and so he knew immediately who he was talking about. He was just about ready to wipe the smile of the man's face. He didn't know anything about it. _

_But then something akin to horror crossed his face when he realized that Sephiroth knew what had happened the night before. He knew the man was inside of him but now knowing that he could also infringe on his experiences to such a high degree was more disturbing than he was willing to admit. He knew everything. Everything. He wasn't even sure his own mother could do that. But of course there was a different connection when it came to her._

_He was angry that he would spy on what Kadaj considered a private moment, a weak moment._

_Sephiroth watched his remnant's face, eyes sparkling. He could practically see the thoughts in the boy's head. _

"_You don't have anything better to do than spy on me?" Sephiroth laughed._

"_As interesting as you might think you are, I can assure you that most of the time I'm not even with you." Sephiroth pushed him harder into the wall and Kadaj felt a pain building between his shoulders. He really started to wonder if pain in his own head was even possible. "Well, not like that. Most of the time I'm waiting, and waiting...and waiting." His voice grew more irritated with each word. "I'm so tired of waiting." Kadaj narrowed his eyes. _

"_Like I've said before, this isn't about you. You had your chance and we all know how that turned out." Kadaj could see he'd hit a chord. Sephiroth wrapped his hand around Kadaj's neck._

"_Remember your place, remnant." Kadaj tried to breathe but Sephiroth had a firm hold on his neck. "I am more than you could ever hope to be. Do not make the mistake of believing otherwise. That is why it will be me that mother chooses." Kadaj couldn't look at him anymore. "That is why you should let me take over."_

_The last part was such a sly persuasion that Kadaj actually started to consider it, before realizing that this was a trick that he used often. And he would be damned if he was deceived by his own devices. He thought back to every unpleasant meeting he'd had with the man, finding he could almost pin point every time Sephiroth had cut him down, establishing insecurities he hadn't had before, or fueling the ones he did. Did Sephiroth really think him so inadequate to finish the job that he felt he needed to interfere like this? Kadaj looked at the man before him, seeing nothing but self interest in the proposal. He saw right through it, and was angry that all this time Sephiroth had been doing nothing but putting doubts inside of his head, just so that he could try and take over. Did he really think he was that stupid? Apparently. Kadaj managed to wrench his hand off._

"_Never." Sephiroth pulled his sword out of the wall almost effortlessly._

"_Why delay the inevitable?" He said, spark in his eye now bordering on anger. Kadaj was smug._

"_This is my body." Sephiroth put his sword back in its sheathe, the sound it made as it slid into place giving his words punctuation. Sephiroth was silent, not bothering to mention that he wouldn't have a body if not for him._

"_What did I tell you about this Sephiroth?" His narrowed his eyes, keeping them on Kadaj._

"_I felt you were near mother." he said, watching Kadaj watch him._

"_You are becoming increasingly disobedient with every passing day. I told you not to meddle. Your time will come. Our time will come" Jenova said. Kadaj fought the urge to smile as he listened to their mother chastise the man. Sephiroth stood up straighter._

"_How can you be sure of this when Kadaj is constantly proving himself incapable? It would be best if I overtook his body." As much as Sephiroth was a patient man, he did have his limits. And he was fast approaching them._

"_Who are you to make these decisions? You aren't strong enough for that. You will have to wait." Sephiroth's eyes betrayed his outward composure, as they continued to burn into Kadaj. He pulled the gloves off of his hands, a hint of a smile on his face. Kadaj shifted his stance. _

"_Don't squander the little time you have left." Sephiroth was confident that regardless of the incapability of his remnant that he would return. And he would be the only one. Kadaj scowled and watched the taller man disappear. _

_Kadaj expected to come back to himself in the outside world but, nothing happened. He stood there confused._

"_Take a seat son." Kadaj sat down, ready._

"I didn't call you last night!" Yuffie said, clearly flustered.

"Then how do explain the fuckin' directions I gave you at nearly three in goddamn morning?"

"What? You must've been dreaming Cid. I'm headed towards there, but I kinda forgot most of the directions." Yuffie said tapping her fingers impatiently on the counter.

"The hell I was, you're the one who woke me up to help you with your fuckin _brilliant_ navigational skills." Cid said sarcastically. Yuffie wasn't really thinking straight to begin with so she didn't think to connect the dots.

"Okay, whatever. Just tell me them again then." Yuffie rolled her eyes, maybe Cid really was getting to be an old geezer.

"Fine, but this is the last time. Your voice sounds a lot better."

"Huh?"

_Jenova liked to be certain that she was the one holding the reins. She thrived on control and always had the highest expectations of her sons. And she expected them to always meet them perfectly. Now, she could feel that control slipping and she knew she had to reestablish it by any means necessary. _

_She could see that Sephiroth was getting impatient, but she didn't think he would defy her and pursue Kadaj anyway. The boy was not supposed know many of the things he did and she knew she would have to fix that. How was her plan supposed to succeed when she was losing control over her tools?_

"_My son." The almost affectionate tone he was hearing now was rarely used and Kadaj's muscles released automatically. Just the notion of having such a tie to his mother had always made him feel like he was already reunited with her, like he had it all. But he was more wary now that he knew what he did._

_The hope that had always come rushing to him whenever his mother chose to really speak to him was slightly dulled. But that didn't mean he still didn't yearn for the same things. Now he just wasn't so naive. "The girl is dead?"_

_Kadaj felt his stomach knot again. He could very clearly hear the glee in her voice, the anticipation. He didn't know why, but he felt a bit offended. Did she really think him so weak that he couldn't kill her? He confirmed it in a strong voice. "Good." The knot tightened._

_Kadaj blanched wondering why he still felt offended and now slightly angry. He just chalked it up to the way his mother continued to patronize him. He never thought to think that maybe he was feeling the way he was because of the nonchalant way his mother threw around the subject of Yuffie's death. Well, maybe once he considered that that might be it. But that was completely insane. That would mean that he actually valued her life, that would mean that she meant something to him. Which she didn't. He did a fine job of convincing himself of that._

"_You're not regretting it are you?" Jenova's voice accused incredulously. Kadaj was shocked that she would ask and a bit panicked that something inside of him was confirming her suspicion. He quickly denied it, finding anger present again. He was insulted that she would even be moved to ask and furious that it was actually making sense to him. It explained the not so physical pain and why his stomach was in knots. But it wasn't possible! He'd killed countless times and the very idea that he could actually feel guilty after taking a life seemed inconceivable._

_Kadaj felt that hatred returning. The hatred he kept especially for the ninja, the hatred that seemed to easily morph into a desire to feel her skin against his fingers, and her lips against his, yielding and soft._

_Kadaj felt disgusting. He then realized that he'd been tuning his mother out. _

"_Wonderful. I knew you were capable." Kadaj was so delighted from the obvious praise that he missed the almost forced edge behind it. "Now do you know what you are to do?"_

"_Yes." Kadaj said enthusiastically, still basking in her compliment. Her rare encouraging words were more precious to him than he thought she knew. It was like having a piece of the very thing he wanted most. But Jenova knew exactly how much he treasured them, that's what_ _she was counting on. And as she saw him come out of his other thoughts and into thoughts consumed with the mission and her (of course) she saw it was having the desired effect. She saw her control returning._

"_Good. I know you will come through." Kadaj was nearly glowing. He started to forget his situation, a foolish hope returning to him. Maybe he could have his mother. Maybe it would all be perfect. And somewhere in between all of this Kadaj managed to push Yuffie to the back of his head._

Yuffie stood before the restroom sink after scrubbing her skin raw. She knew that she probably could've done this at the hotel but she couldn't find it in her to stay. She had to get out of there. She checked her reflection in the mirror.

She mused that it looked more like someone had caught her off guard with a flash camera. And that's what she felt like. She felt like she'd been hit by a tornado. Did everything that had happened, really happen? She could still feel his hands on her skin and the way his touches were so soft and persuasive, and almost... magical. She had to laugh at herself then, but it came out forced.

She couldn't look at herself anymore and she turned away, remembering the blood stains, glass and splintered wood that had been the room's chaotic and morbid decoration. Everything that had happened to them still seemed like a dream and it filled her head until she thought it could burst. He was angry, presumptuous, prejudiced, obnoxious and oh yeah, homicidal.

What was she doing? Yuffie didn't know anymore. She had such a handle on the situation before. Well, as much of a handle as a hostage could have. She thought back to the day she first met him and looked at herself now. Would she have let him grope her like that a couple of weeks ago? She thought back to that and her cheeks burned. It had seemed like a good idea at the time. It had seemed like a wonderful idea actually. She'd never felt anything like it, she never felt so _good._

She wondered if she would have let him go all the way. She didn't know. He made her feel so completely out of her skin that she could hardly ever bee certain about anything. _Asshole. _She ran a hand through her hair angrily. She felt easy, dirty and foolish for what she had felt. A small part of her asked if it was dirty to want to give yourself to someone speci...okay no. She wasn't going to go there. Kadaj? A special someone? No way. If she bought into that she would be more psychotic than him. Right?

Someone special probably wouldn't attempt to murder you on a near daily basis. You know, in the very least. Yuffie rolled her eyes. She thought about the attachment to him that had developed and she thought about how strangely lonely she now felt and she gathered her shurikens together.

She bit her lip thinking about what it would've been like to be with him, what it would've felt like. Would it have changed anything?

She shook her head thinking that now it was she that was being the pervert. She figured it must be his looks. She really hoped that was it, because if it was she could just chalk it up to bad judgement and raging hormones and be done with it. She made up her mind that she hated him, and that she didn't care one bit about the situation anymore, she was a rock, a stone, generally something hard. She was unbreakable and... damnit! She still didn't have her materia!

"Kadaj?" Kadaj opened his eyes at the sound of his older brother's worried voice. The smile fell from his lips when his vision cleared and he saw Loz hovering apprehensively over him.

"What are you doing?" Kadaj said, sitting up and finding his muscles were quite achy. Loz blinked, looking at him intensely.

"You had an accident." Kadaj frowned.

"What?"

"You rounded the corner and lost control of your bike. Me and Yazoo...we.." Kadaj spotted Yazoo checking the bike. He could see Loz starting to get emotional and he put a hand up.

"I'm fine." He got up, wincing as he did so. Loz didn't miss it.

"Maybe we should rest-" Yazoo walked up behind Loz, looking pensive. Kadaj was sick of the patronization and disrespect on the part of his brothers.

"What did I say? Honestly, if you two can't handle a simple fall like this, how are you going to accept it when I'm gone?" Yazoo narrowed his eyes.

"When you're _what?_" Kadaj was quiet and the wind filled the silence. Loz looked confused.

"What do you mean?" Kadaj looked at his brothers. He watched Loz's muscled shoulders tense and Yazoo's eyes drill into him from behind his bangs. Kadaj had come to a point where he could accept that he might not live, but he knew he had to do this. He would show his mother the depth of his loyalty and the legacy _would_ live on.

"Sephiroth will return." he said darkly. Both Yazoo and Loz caught on quickly enough but they said nothing. Sephiroth's presence in their youngest brother's body was bound to mean something more than just another voice in his head. Kadaj didn't even bother to mention the possibility of coexistence. He decided to keep that tiny hope for himself.

The silence between the three was deafening and Yazoo's gaze dulled only slightly while, Loz swallowed heavily. What could they do to change something like this? Nothing. And that's what they stood there and did. Yazoo didn't withdraw completely into himself, Loz didn't cry and Kadaj let it be that way. They stood there for a bit, three remnants in black.

Barely a day had passed when it started coming together for them. Kadaj felt that the closer he got the more an almost spiritual pull made itself present. He was pulled toward what looked like an investigation. There was a logo and a word to match. ShinRa. Everything about it struck a chord deep inside of him and he was practically propelled forward by memories clearly not his own.

Yuffie traveled as fast as she could on foot, anxious to see her friends. Though it seemed as if none of them were answering their phones. She wanted to be safe and tell them of the trio that was after Cloud but she couldn't get in touch with them. She expected the trio had just given up on her and were now resorting to their own methods to find Cloud.

But she was comforted by the fact that she hadn't let anything slip and that they probably still didn't know where to go. How wrong she was.

Everything started to move so fast it was a blur. He felt like he was removed from his body already and he watched his own gloved hands slide _his_ double bladed sword out with a razor sharp screech. He could see his smile and see the expression on the pairs' faces. They had both put up a fight and they had both failed miserably. Kadaj thought his laughter sounded so much older as he watched the blond woman tremble in an obvious effort to keep her composure.

Just when he'd sliced through the surprisingly thick material of the woman's formal blue jacket the man _ordered_ him to stop. What was it with people these days? Didn't they understand who was in charge? Yazoo fired a shot that pierced the wall right next to the man's head.

"Where's mother?" The woman said something rude and struggled against her restraints. Kadaj looked at her and thought it was a real shame, because she wouldn't be quite as pretty when he was done with her.

"I'll ask once more. Where's mother?" Kadaj said, resting the tip of his sword on the nape of her neck. She spat at him.

"Go to hell." Kadaj blinked, what a mouth she had. Kind of like...

"Elena..." the man said, as if to tell her not to antagonize them. But she didn't listen and Kadaj was tired of pussyfooting around.

"Yazoo." Kadaj said curtly. Almost immediately he sent a bullet right through the leg of the man. The woman screamed and Kadaj forced her to look him in the eye with flat side of his sword.

"I'm done being nice."

Yuffie rested her hands on her knees as she caught her breath. She opted to run right by that town that had almost been the place of her first kiss. It was the beginning for so much and she surprised herself with just how difficult it was for her to recall it. When had she turned into such a girl? She didn't groan and moan over guys that did her wrong, she kicked their asses! But what was she supposed to do with a guy that managed to kick _her _butt all the time?

It just wasn't right. She passed the town where the party was always on, moving her legs like she was being chased by a pack of wild dogs.

Kadaj didn't know what he thought of the blonde man the first time he glimpsed him. He wondered what his mother thought of him and he was quietly intrigued by him. After all, this was the man who was the supposed downfall of their eldest brother. The thought brought a smile to his face and he thought it was rather pathetic. The man looked as harmless as they came.

The two he had tried to get information out of had ultimately been a dead end, but he had recovered something at least. He opened up his phone to make a call.

"Put the president on."

The journey was taking longer than she expected, but after a good amount of time she finally made it, spotting something in the sky that couldn't possibly be there.

"No way..." she whispered, her steps significantly slower. In order for that to be there, there had to be...who would?...oh god. Yuffie was ran full speed ahead, bracing herself for the worse and cursing all the way. She dropped in the middle of the fuss with her parachute, really hoping everything that was happening wasn't somehow her fault for not getting the word out or keeping better watch over her materia.

She asked Tifa who was behind it, but she didn't hear the answer. She already knew. And with that she was off to take out her rage on one very unlucky creature.

Kadaj was weary, and somehow desperate at the same time. The ever evasive president seemed bent on wasting his time with pointless, polite small talk. Kadaj felt his cool slipping but nevertheless he put on a smile, complete with a threat attached. Only was that...? As the blanket came away Kadaj was absolutely certain he despised blondes.

"A good son would have known." Kadaj eyes the box in the man's hands, knowing immediately what it was. Then Kadaj watched in horror as his reason for living was tossed off of the building. Sephiroth was close to the surface, he could feel it. That presence started to become so strong Kadaj felt like he was hallucinating.

The world's weight was off of his shoulders when he managed to get to safety with his treasure, even though he knew that nuisance of a brother was hot on his tail. He cradled it in his arms and cherished the moment. This was the very moment he'd been working for, and he savored it. Until he saw how bad the damage was. A powerful feeling of dread took him over and he couldn't help it. Had he botched the job? And strangely enough he heard laughter inside of his head. To think that he would be laughing at a time like this seemed wrong on so many levels.

_That's it for you._ But Kadaj refused to believe it. He couldn't contain himself and he called for his mother, he called and called...And soon he wasn't even making words. The traitor made his appearance and Kadaj knew he had to do something.

Before he knew it, the world was spinning around him like it usually did when he fought. Only this time he felt he was being pushed around. He hated to think that he had underestimated Cloud so much. And then there was the laughter again and even more of the feeling that Sephiroth was going to push his way out of him. He deflected and attacked and all he could feel was Sephiroth trying to get out.

Yuffie pressed her face up against the glass of the ship, arms full of materia. But her mood was hardly any better. She watched the fight between Cloud and Kadaj. Her eyes secretly finding Kadaj a lot more than they should have. She just wanted to go down there and beat the living daylights out of him, maybe ask why. But she couldn't, because it was Clouds fight. And even if it wasn't she wondered if she would've been able to go down there anyway. She wondered if she could get one last look at him up close and what he would say. Probably something really nasty, she thought. He was all swift action and flash and she remembered that had been something she'd admired about him from the very beginning.

Then it was mentioned that he was just a larvae, and her breath caught in her throat. She had the good humor to crack a joke to ward off suspicion, but she started to understand. And it wasn't just the fact that Sephiroth returning would just suck big time, but what would happen to Kadaj?

Something about the uncertain thought was saddening but she tried not to show it.

Kadaj looked up at Cloud, his shaky chance gone before he could blink, as well as his sword.

The box was in his hands and he was sure of what he needed to do now. He still held onto the bit of hope he had and he took the plunge, taking in the remains of his mother and wondering what was to happen. He felt strange and then there was pain. Bone searing, white hot pain. He could swear that his body was coming apart. And then he felt it, the presence that had been plaguing his mind come to the forward as he felt himself being pulled backwards. He felt so small all of a sudden and it was quite clear who mother had picked.

Their was no gloating laughter from Sephiroth, there was nothing but silence. Yuffie watched with wide eyes, holding the materia closer. _Serves him right. He was a jerk anyway._ She thought. But the words failed to bring her any solace and she willed Kadaj to come back.

She watched the fight and wondered how it would pan out, ready with her shurikens just in case.

But the fight was over before it begun and Yuffie let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding. She nearly gasped when she saw Kadaj appear from what was once Sephiroth. She couldn't explain the relief she felt. Kadaj got ready to attack, so certain of himself. But then he found he couldn't even hold himself up. He was more than disappointed in his weakness as he tumbled towards the ground and into Cloud's arms. The world was going fuzzy and something calm seemed to settle over him. He heard a voice.

"Mother?"

Yuffie said his name quietly when he fell to the ground, her short nails scratching against the glass. A few orbs fell out of her arms but she didn't move to pick them up, her eyes still locked on his fallen form.

Kadaj felt moisture on his face and he didn't care. He was surprising himself with the degree of peace he was feeling. Sounds started to get more gargled and muted and Kadaj was content to just be with his mother. Finally. He thought about Yazoo and Loz and hoped they would be there too. His thoughts strayed to Yuffie for a second before he couldn't even manage rational thought. And he could see his hand reaching...

They all saw him disappear and they all cheered. Perhaps loud enough that no one noticed the insincerity in Yuffie's exclamation. She turned back to the window, glancing at Cloud who was now alone. She looked to the sky and blinked rapidly. There would be no tears, just rain.

(A/N: I really hope you enjoyed this chapter. I thought including some of the actual Advent children elements would work out. I have to say that it was a little wacky writing what was going on in the movie. I tried to focus on feelings more though, so it wouldn't just be a recap. Gosh, I hope there aren't too many plot holes...Anyway tell me what you think. I might not be able to update for a while though. In a few hours I'll be leaving for Sweden for a couple of weeks and when I come back it's probably gonna be all about school. And guess what! I'm going to be sixteen in eleven more days! Yay! Anyhoo, I'll see you all later. Thanks so much for the input!


	13. Latent Heat

"_You're not my mother." the voice was as weary as it was disappointed. _

"_I-" _

"_No. Don't waste your breath." As quickly as the boy's smile had fallen, did his voice take on a razor sharp edge. "Do you know how tired I am of being lied to?"_

When the lights first dragged their sharp nails across his skull, he'd been so much more coherent. He even remembered thinking he'd see his brothers again, and that his mother had called out to him despite his failure. But that was a lie. Had anyone ever told him the truth?

_He took a step towards her, and even though she knew at this point he was harmless she backed up, kindness in her emerald eyes. _

"_No one is trying to deceive you here." The look in his eyes softened just slightly and his mouth drew into a tight line._

"_...Right." The woman looked at him sadly, before reaching out to touch his shoulder. But before she could he caught her wrist, looking at her angrily._

"_Don't. I don't need your sympathy or your lies." He released her and turned on his heel. "Just leave me alone." he said tiredly. He faded before he was out of sight and she sighed and did the same, blending in with the normal flow of nonexistence. _

She was vaguely familiar to him, the part of him that was still rooted to Sephiroth tried to pull back memories, but all he got was a scream, and a pink ribbon falling to the ground. He secluded himself from every other spirit and not one dared to approach him. Even in death he was feared, and he wanted to keep it that way. But that woman with the kind emerald eyes was always calling to him, even though he never answered. And then he realized that maybe he could call to his brothers, like she was doing to him. If they happened to be dead, they could be together. But no one answered, and he figured they must be alive.

Alive. He was probably never going to see them again. But he couldn't find it within himself to be angry with them. He was instead angry with himself. He had steered them all off track and he couldn't help thinking that the failure of the reunion was his fault. He was angry with his enigma of an older brother for treating it like a game, but couldn't he say the same for himself? What if he had done it sooner, what if he hadn't let Yuf... that human throw him off?

That familiar knot in his stomach returned, and he willed it to go away bitterly. He thought about his mother and he realized he wasn't so much angry as he was feeling betrayed. Okay, maybe he was angry too. Coexistence, that was probably just another lie too. He felt stupid for believing every obvious lie she'd told him and he was even more furious when he thought about how much he still wondered what it would be like to have a mother.

At this point he was feeling a hatred towards her that he never thought he would, yet he wasn't entirely convinced that if she came to him again he would have it in him to just walk away from her. He laughed, _get away from her?_ When the hell could he ever? If anyone was leaving anyone it was always her leaving him, and he realized with a start that he hadn't heard from her since his death. He figured as much, she had no use for him anymore. And Sephiroth's presence was gone too. Well, he didn't need her anyway. He certainly didn't need him. He didn't need anybody.

Yuffie clenched her teeth when yet another glass crashed at her feet. All of the occupants of the bar turned to look, before turning away with bored looks on their faces. By now the new waiter's clumsiness was commonplace. Tifa sighed before coming out behind the bar with a broom and a rag.

"Yuffie again?" Yuffie pinched her soaked shirt off of her front, rolled up her sleeves.

"Sorry. I was doing so much better today, I swear." Tifa smiled at her.

"Really, this makes seven, and you're no where near done with your shift. And the customers are complaining about your manners." Yuffie frowned, before kneeling down with the dustpan. She'd like to see those jerks try and balance six drinks at a time. She went to the trash and dumped the broken glass in. She took the rag and wiped up the liquid content, quickly going to wring it out in the sink.

"But I've improved right?" She grinned and Tifa hated to admit it but the ninja was right. She had been worse, a lot worse. "Hey Tifa?" Tifa looked at her. "Can I-"

"Upstairs, my room, third drawer in the big dresser." Yuffie smiled sheepishly, before heading upstairs to change her clothes.

"Hey what about my drinks!" Some guy yelled before she even got to the third step. Yuffie spun around and glared at the patron, motioning to her clothes.

"What about them?" she said loudly.

"I've been waiting for a half an hour!"

"Yeah well you can wait another five!" Tifa turned to the girl and gave her a look, only to have the girl grin back.

"See? Didn't I tell you I've improved?" Tifa sighed and went to get the man's drink and while Yuffie ran upstairs. She headed straight for Tifa's room, het steps silent, not wanting to wake the kids.

"Again Yuffie?" She saw Cloud sitting in the living room, the glow of the television on his face.

"Yes, again. You have a problem?" Cloud shrugged and turned the channel, his face immediately tightening as he leaned towards the tv. Yuffie moved towards him, wanting to know what could possibly be on tv to make him react like that. "What's up?" Cloud motioned to the tv and Yuffie's eyes went wide.

Soon Kadaj found his anger slipping away from him and in its place a numbness. It came to a point where he suddenly found himself completely apathetic to everything and he was content with that. He accepted it as the most peace he would ever have. And that's the way it was, until the storm clouds started gathering. He watched as the dark masses descended, and he watched the sudden onslaught of something he thought he'd never see again. Rain.

He didn't understand. He didn't understand why he was suddenly seeing old shadows, why he was seeing silver and electric blue behind his eyelids. His head pounded suddenly and fiercely. He tried to bring his hands up but they wouldn't move, only his legs would and he made use of them, running to no where particular. He didn't know there could be a wind so fierce in the afterlife. It was almost real. As real as the thick warmth he felt running down his back and the haze he suddenly found himself in.

For one insane moment he could've sworn he'd been gazing into his own eyes and he exhaled, welcoming what he was sure was a new death. And he thought that maybe if he was lucky, this time he wouldn't exist at all.

Yuffie's breath caught in her throat the minute she saw the picture on the television. ShinRa's storage, partly charred and apparently broken into. Yuffie didn't even know ShinRa had separate storage and she could care less. But she knew that when something big happened with ShinRa it was never good news. Cloud looked at the tense ninja from the corner of his eye before turning his intense gaze back on the tv.

Yuffie bit her lip, ShinRa meant genocide in her hometown, ShrinRa meant Sephiorth and ShinRa meant...Kadaj. _Even a year after your death you bastard._ She still thought about him occasionally, but mostly she considered herself numbed to any pain he caused her. She had moved on, accepted that he was never coming back and that he was an asshole. Well, the latter was kind of her own addition, but more to the point she just hoped the ShinRa mess would be over with soon.

_Thick rolling masses descended like fog, polluting what was once the clear vibrant berth of the lifestream._

"_What's going on?" The man looked around, watching the disruption around him._

"_I don't know." she said distractedly. He tore his blue eyes away from the dark fog, looking down on the small woman in pink._

"_What's going on with you?" She looked up, her eyes unfocused._

"_Hmm?" _

"_Okay, now I know something's up. It's him isn't it?"_

"_He won't see me." the man ran his thumb across her cheek._

"_Aerith, you know the chances of finding him again. Do you know how many spirits are here? How many die everyday? It'd be worse than trying to find a needle in a haystack."_

"_We found each other didn't we? It doesn't happen all the time but friends and family do find each other here. I've talked with Kadaj once, it has to be easier now. I mean, if he'd just answer just once..I have to tell him about his brothers, I-"_

"_You can't solve everyone's problems."_

"_I know. But there is so much he still doesn't understand. I just want to help him."_

"_He knows you're not his mother."_

"_I know, he's too smart to believe that. I just wanted him to have a bit of peace, if only for a little while. But his head is clear now, he knows I'm not her and now he doesn't trust me. I made a mistake, he has to know what's happening now." She looked at the upset state of the lifestream. Zack looked back at the dark clouds, hearing something like thunder in the distance._

"_This has to do with him?"_

"_I think so. I think the Lifestream is trying to get rid of the taint infused in it."_

"_But I thought it didn't work?"_

"_It didn't, at least not the way Sephiroth wanted it to."_

"_What do you mean?" Zack asked, bewildered._

"_I mean, Geostigma failed in completely killing the planet, but it did mange to damage the lifestream. All that died from Geostigma served in contaminating the lifestream. I think...I think it's trying to repair itself. It's trying to get rid of whatever made up the stigma, and Kadaj is part of that. Don't you see?" Aerith looked at the dark clouds and listened as a cacophony of cries from the dead rose from beneath her feet. "He might have a second chance Zack." She wrung her hands and looked up at the blazing splits in the sky above her. "He just never had a chance, I don't want him to make the same mistakes." Zack touched her shoulder._

"_Have you ever dealt with Sephiroth on a day to day basis?" Aerith raised an eyebrow, wondering what he could possibly be getting at._

"_No, But I don't see-"_

"_Then trust me, that kid is a lot stronger than you're giving him credit for. Heck, at least I was dealing with a relatively sane one." Zack smiled, although a bit sadly and Aerith took his hand._

_Thanks." _

"ShinRa administrators claim nothing of value was stolen, but still withhold disclosure of items in question."

Cloud listened intently to the newscaster and Yuffie narrowed her eyes. They looked at each other after the report, both suspicious.

"This can't mean anything good." Yuffie said, shaking her head. Cloud turned the channel.

"It's not our problem." Cloud said, although Yuffie wasn't sure he believed his own words. Cloud exhaled slowly and quietly, and Tifa appeared at the door.

"Yuffie, get back to work before I fire you." she said, smiling. Yuffie got up quickly, making her way towards Tifa's room. The older woman was gracious enough to find the change of uniform for the ninja and she handed them over.

"ShinRa trouble again huh?" Tifa looked almost annoyed and Yuffie raised an eyebrow, before starting to undress.

"Yeah, it's probably nothing though." Yuffie said tossing her clothes onto the floor. Tifa leaned against the doorframe, looking wistful.

"You're probably right." Though her tone indicated she might have believed otherwise. Tifa frowned when Yuffie dropped her soaked shirt to the floor, revealing her back and an ugly brownish mark splashed across the milky skin. Tifa might have associated it with battle, but they hadn't been at it for a year. But then again she knew the girl was clumsy. She was going to let the matter rest and not even ask, but Yuffie caught her looking and Tifa very clearly saw something shift behind those dark eyes.

"Yuffie?" She saw the girl look passed her reflection and out of her bedroom window.

"It was an accident." she said in a much older voice Tifa rarely heard from the girl. If that didn't send up red flags all over the place...Yuffie put her crisp new blouse on and tried not to think about the real reason. The reason that had glowing eyes with slitted pupils and tight gripping black leather hands that could hurt as well as make her want things she'd already decided against.

She felt Tifa's gaze still boring into her. She couldn't very well tell her about the time she'd spent with the three brothers. She couldn't tell her about Kadaj and everything that had happened with him. Even if sometimes she really wanted to. She really wanted to get it off of her chest, but if anyone found out...

She just didn't want to think about it.

"I was just being clumsy, wasn't looking...and I..well, you know me...always falling all over the place... Tifa looked at her sharply for a while and Yuffie grinned so hard it looked painful.

"You don't believe me?" Yuffie knew in her head that it was a stupid question, Tifa was was smart woman. But the older woman just sighed, still very suspicious and concerned. But she wouldn't push it. It was obviously something Yuffie needed to keep to herself. She trusted the girl to take care of herself but she knew she didn't always make the wisest decisions.

"Of course I do. Now get back to work." Tifa said wearily, thinking she ought to keep an eye on the girl.

Kadaj felt like he was dreaming, but that was impossible because in death there was only an agonizing state of wakefulness. With death the pain was a lot easier to accept, but now he felt like the top of his vertebrae had been filed into points and his arms ached like someone had tried to rip them right out of their sockets. In death he'd felt even the images of his brothers dulling as he just existed. But now he could vividly remember how Yazoo had freckles so light there were almost unnoticeable, how heavy Loz's steps could get when he was planning something, how strong gasoline could get on a long trip, how onions...wait onions? Kadaj opened his eyes and his sight didn't come to him right away.

He was sure he was smelling onions, and something sweet...He could see a blur of warm color and he frowned, not being able to make sense of it. His senses started to clear and he could feel something soft underneath him. Where the hell was he? He heard footsteps approaching and he instantly felt for his sword, but it was no where to be found and he could hardly move anyway. He forced himself to sit up, agitating a wound right above his heart he didn't know he had.

"Are you finally awake? You've been sleeping for days." came a female voice, gentle and slightly feeble. Kadaj scowled as an elderly woman entered the room and set down a tray of food. He watched her through sharp eyes. He had a feeling she wasn't a spirit.

"Do you know where you are?" Silence. "You're in the sunniest part of Edge, young man." The boy's eyes narrowed and the woman was suddenly weary of him. Even immobilized he was intimidating. She didn't expect to be as scared as she was, not when she'd found him in such bad shape lying in her flower bed. Not when he was obviously still a boy. But in his state of wakefulness there was a ferocity she never would have guessed could come from a boy that looked quite so ethereal.

"Is this some kind of _joke?_" The woman wrung her hands.

"Why...no...I don't..." she stuttered over her words. She watched him, watched the obvious suspicion contort his face, the anger and suddenly, the realization. She set the tray on his lap.

"I cooked, I'm sure you're famished." she managed an uneasy smile, backing up as quickly as her old bones would allow when he promptly knocked everything to the floor in one powerful sweep. Soup, greens and glass went flying everywhere.

"Get away from me!" He yelled angrily. He didn't so much care about the shape he was in, or the fact some human had taken it upon herself to show pity on him, and in all honesty, he didn't really even care that she was human. But he was furious that he was back. He was content to just waste away in the lifestream. He just wanted to be alone, away from the memories of the failure, lies, betrayal and confusion he was sure he'd left on earth. He was so _sick_ of it all. He thought about his brothers and the possibility of finding them, but the prospect wasn't as appealing as it could have been. How could he face them? After he'd failed them both? Would they want to see him?

He slammed his fist down on the bed, only to have a jolt of pain travel quickly up his arm. The woman was clearly trembling, her eyes fearful.

"I...I...thought...m..maybe food would help. You..you're in such bad shape...I thought..I have clothes...that might fit you...used to be my son's..." Kadaj was relieved to see his sword by his bedside.

"I don't need your help." Kadaj said quietly. "Do you understand old woman! I don't need your help!" She hurried out of the room and Kadaj gritted his teeth, trying his best to move and failing. He managed to get as far as the space right before the door, before his body wouldn't let him do anything but sleep. And so he slept on the hardwood floor, listening to nothing but the silence in his head.

Weeks passed in that exact same fashion and Kadaj remained stubborn. The old woman would try to give him food and help and he would angrily reject it, or sometimes not respond at all. He learned her son was visiting and figured that's how he'd gotten bandaged and into the house in the first place. He vowed that once he was strong enough, he would leave. He was already disgraced enough, considering the fact that he needed help in the first place. Right about now though, the food was looking great. But he fought with himself, accepting it would be admitting he needed help. He was just a bit too proud for that.

But then again, the potatoes in the soup were so big, the smell was like the smell in those shops he knew he could never buy anything from in the past, and the bread was steaming as if just out of the oven. Kadaj turned away from it defiantly, only to see the reflection of the food in the window glass. He snorted and looked away, but he couldn't shut his nose off to the mouth watering smell. He glared at the soup for a long while until he just had to have a taste.

But he couldn't just taste and pretty soon he was scarfing down the whole thing like he hadn't eaten in a year. Which actually was pretty accurate. He heard the door open and immediately put the bowl back, quickly wiping away any crumbs from his woman entered and smiled when she saw the empty bowl.

"I'm glad you finally ate." Kadaj raised an eyebrow, suddenly wondering if she'd poisoned it. Maybe that's why she wanted him to eat so much. She couldn't possibly care genuinely. She didn't even know who he was, and if she did she probably would have left him to die for sure. He was suspicious, albeit a bit intrigued. Well, if it was poisoned he would die. That wasn't so bad.

"I didn't have much of a choice, did I?." He said. The woman saw right through him. She thought he could do with some lessons on etiquette though. But she still wasn't completely unafraid and so she didn't say anything. Instead she took the tray away and ambled out of the room. Kadaj watched the afternoon sun redden, wondering what he was going to do.

"Cloud, could you take Yuffie out on your delivery with you?" Cloud snapped his head up, looking at Tifa like she was insane. "I'm serious, she wants to see what it's about." Cloud snorted. "Come on Cloud."

"She might be better at this than being a waitress..."

"Or she might be worse." Cloud said darkly. They both held a horrified silence.

"Well, there's only one way to find out. She might be really great at it." Tifa bit her lip, hoping Cloud would bite.

"She'll distract me."

"She could read directions."

"I know where I'm going Tifa. And I'm sorry to say it but Yuffie's navigational skills aren't exactly great." Tifa sighed, obviously exasperated.

"Please? She said she wanted to try it out." Cloud looked like he was considering it.

"No." he smirked at Tifa's face." Cloud wondered what was going on with the ninja, everyone could see something was different. She was even more restless and annoying than usual, and what was more, taking up odd jobs all over the place. Cloud remembered a lazy nuisance of a teenager, but know he was seeing a older girl who was even more all over the place than usual. Tifa had once mentioned to him that it looked a lot like distraction.

Distraction from what? He didn't understand.

"Cloud, please?"

"You know Tifa, I think you want her to go out with me because you're tired of seeing your glasses break, and your customers leave, and your laundry pile up." Tifa looked around shiftily.

"Please?" She smiled and fluttered her lashes. Cloud sighed,_ so unfair_. She knew he couldn't resist that.

"Fine."

When Yuffie got on the motorbike behind Cloud she remembered and instantly held on. Cloud was a little shocked to feel her arms slide around his waist that quickly, had she done this before? He thought about her motion sickness.

"You okay?" Yuffie didn't answer, she was lost inside her head, thinking of the times she'd ridden behind Kadaj, his slim frame against hers, the smell of leather strong in her nose. When she came out of it, Cloud was frowning at her.

"Are you okay?" Yuffie nodded.

"Yeah."

"You ungrateful little shit." Kadaj said nothing to the man, her son. He could see the hatred in the man's eyes everyday he looked at him. He could understand _that._ But every other time they'd been in each other's presence that man had at least had the wisdom to say nothing to Kadaj, but today was different. Kadaj was silent, he really could care less about what the man had to say. "You have nothing to say?" His question was met with silence. "Makes sense. What could a monster like you possibly have to say for yourself? You're sick, all of you!"

Kadaj clenched the covers.

"You all just keep coming back, like a goddamned cancer...why can't you just leave us alone? Huh?" Kadaj swallowed, it wasn't like he wasn't used to this kind of attitude. He'd heard nastier words from the ones he was about to kill. He knew he had the strength to at least kill the man, but he didn't really feel like it. Not at all. He was just so _tired._ But the man was grating on his nerves. "She should've left you to die. That's what you deserve."

Cloud and Yuffie pulled up to the cheerful house, just as the sky started to turn into a pink and purple swirl. Cloud got off of Fenrir and Yuffie watched him walk to the door and knock. A plump old woman opened the door and smiled, immediately starting to chat up a storm. Cloud just held the parcel in his hands, listening politely. Yuffie turned her gaze to the forest behind the house, drawn to the spectrum of color. Flowers.

Cloud watched the old woman closely. She was always one of his favorite customers. There were few people so kind and happy after everything that had happened.

"You'll never guess what happened, I-" She was cut off by a loud shout that seemed to be coming from upstairs. She quickly excused herself and made her way quickly upstairs, and Cloud waited patiently on the doorstep. But then he heard her scream and he followed suite, parcel in hand.

The woman screamed for Kadaj to let her son go, but he held him fast against the wall, the other hand holding Souba steady to his heart. Kadaj heard her screaming, at him, at her son...but there was something ingrained in him like a bad habit.

"Don't you ever make the mistake of putting your filthy hands on me." Kadaj gripped the man's throat harder, watching his eyes roll back into their sockets.

"She shoulda left you to die." the man repeated in a raspy voice. Kadaj smiled.

"Yeah well, it's a bit too late for favors isn't it."

"Please, let go of my son!" the voice was desperate and Kadaj sighed. He looked at the woman and then he looked at her son. He found his hand squeezing tighter and his blood boiling hotter. He was suddenly hating the man, this weak pathetic man with his damn _mother._ Kadaj dropped the man when he saw who was standing in the doorway. His eyes widened and he nearly dropped his sword. There in the doorway was his traitorous older brother. Cloud mirrored his shocked expression and he promptly leapt out of the open window, keeping his mouth shut and the exclamations of pain silenced. He glimpsed from the corner of his eye, a head of blonde hair at the window, but he kept on running. And Cloud watched as Kadaj disappeared into the field of flowers, obviously headed for the forest farther off.

Yuffie stood in the field, looking curiously at the flowers. It smelled almost overwhelmingly sweet, but Yuffie didn't mind. Offhandedly, she wondered how Aerith managed to grow all those flowers so well. She ducked down in the flowers to look at a strange looking one, immediately standing up when she heard something rustle behind her.

She looked around, but there was nothing there. She still heard movement ahead but the sun moved into her eyes when she looked forward.

"Stupid Squirrels." Only a few seconds passed when she heard her name being called rather fiercely. She ran to the front of the house.

"Cloud, what's up?" She said, looked at his bothered expression. He led them both to Fenrir and they both got on quickly. "Cloud, will you tell me what's going on!" Cloud turned around, looking very pensive.

"It's Kadaj." Yuffie felt her heart skip a beat.

"Wha-what about him?"

"He's back."


	14. Electronegativity

"_You insolent child, you can't do this to me."_

"_I think that I can."_

"_You are making an enormous mistake! What would you be without me?"_

"_Much more than I am now. My only mistake was not realizing sooner what a hindrance your presence is."_

"_Wait, wait. We can compromise..."_

"_Bargaining now, are we? It's a shame your last words had to be so undignified."_

The wind tore at both of them as Cloud sped down the highway. Yuffie's arms slackened around Cloud's waist as the road seemed to raise up and blur in the summer heat, coiling like a snake.

"Geez, you think you could slow down fifty miles or so?" Yuffie put a hand up to mouth and rolled her eyes. Cloud only seemed to speed up and Yuffie's vision blurred as her nausea increased. She grabbed Cloud's shoulders and spoke as clearly as she could into his ear. "If you don't slow down, I will totally barf on you." That got his attention and he pulled over to the side of the road, looking quite angry. He silently cursed Tifa and her eyelashes.

He put the kick stand down and thrust a bottle of water into her hands.

"Drink it, it'll make you feel better." Yuffie frowned at his attitude.

"No really? I've only had motion sickness my whole life..."

"Just drink it." Yuffie bit the top off.

"Fine, you don't have to get so pushy." She drank and sat on the ground, leaning back against the bike.

"I knew this wasn't a good idea." He watched her impatiently. "I should have remembered your motion sickness." Yuffie stood up to quickly and wobbled on her feet, sloppily propping her hands up on her hips.

"Excuse me, but if you didn't decide to do...like, _one twenty_ we wouldn't be here. Besides this only happens like this when I get aggravated."

"What could you possibly be aggravated about?" He raised one blonde eyebrow and stared off into the distance as if he expected Kadaj to just come running by. Yuffie looked away at the question, finding she didn't at all like the answer. Obviously that bastard had something to do with it. Kadaj could always aggravate the hell out of her, even when dead, or in this case, suddenly alive again and who knows where. She couldn't believe it, thinking back to the movement in the flower field and the sun in her eyes. She realized it had been him. They had come so close in that instant... Yuffie found Cloud's eyes glued on her when she came out of it. No matter how many times she told herself she didn't care, something told her otherwise.

"Uh...you."

"Me?"

"Yeah...you. You could be more courteous you know!" Cloud pulled the kickstand up.

"I really don't have time for this." Yuffie was already not in the greatest mood and definitely not going to tolerate his sass.

"So what? Your going to just go speed off to who knows where, while Kadaj is on foot?" Yuffie blanched.

"How did you know he was on foot?"

"I...guessed. No big deal. But anyway, do you honestly think you're going to find him like this? We'll just pass him at this rate." Cloud looked as if he was giving some thought to her words, it was the most sense he'd ever heard her make. He just didn't want a replay of the years before, he really thought that if he nipped it in the bud he could stop it.

"Hello? Hello!?" Yuffie waved him out his head.

"You're right." Yuffie beamed.

"Thanks, I know. Now my next ingenious plan is to go home, have some lemonade watch some tv..." Cloud gave her an incredulous look.

"No, we're going after him." Yuffie's mouth fell open, no, _no_ the plan was to avoid coming into contact with the silver haired menace. Find him? Pfft, no way. She didn't want to see his face ever again. She didn't even care to know why he was back. She was totally over it, over him. He could go about his business and she would go about hers._ But what if his business is killing the planet? _Yuffie crossed her arms, of all times to have a conscience. Did she go to the planet with her problems? No siree. The planet could just take care of itself for once.

For a very strange second that made her feel just as she had in that moment, she thought of the mess of feathers on her bed. There was that. All the questions she'd wanted to ask him. Like, what was all that kissing or touching about if he was going to kill her anyway? She had wanted her revenge. But now she was happy not caring, anything else, be it wonder or vengeance brought her back to that vulnerability she never wanted to feel again.

"Go after him, but we-"

"You were right, I'll retrace my steps at a slower speed and you can look for him on foot."

"Wait no! That is _not_ what I meant!"

"We can't let him escape."

"What's this 'we' business?"

"Yuffie..."

"Cloud I'm serious, I won't-" He sighed.

"You can do what ever you want, but we can't waste anymore time. You can either get back on with me, go after him on foot, or stay here." Yuffie was flabbergasted.

"You'd just leave me here?"

"Yuffie, do you understand what this could mean?"

"Don't talk to me like a child, I know exactly what it means."

"It means the planet is in possible jeopardy again. If he gets away, anything can happen. Do you understand that?" Cloud said, obviously irritated.

"Yeah but-"

"We're wasting time."

"It might be a twin from like, a distant galaxy or s-"

"You watch far too much tv Yuffie. The chances-"

"The _chances _are about the same as three Sephiroth look-alikes appearing out of no where to kill the planet, don't you think?. Now tell me I watch too much tv." Cloud stopped for a moment, she had a point. There really was no way of knowing everything for sure. But there was one thing he did know, that it had definitely been Kadaj.

"He could be bait or something." Yuffie smiled, she was seriously on a roll today. Cloud sighed.

"Yeah, he might be. But what other choice do I have but to take it?"

"I'm telling you, the lemonade is waiting in Tifa's bar..." Cloud gave her strange look.

"Why...are you trying so hard to avoid this?" The question seemed to come to him slowly and Yuffie raised her eyes to his just as slow. The question caught her completely off guard, and she fidgeted under the perceptiveness she felt in his question, the suspicion. She didn't like it at all.

"I'm not. I just..."

"Are you alright?" he asked in that intense way he had about him. It bothered her.

"Of course I am! I don't know why you'd think I wasn't! I'd take him down any day!"

"Then get on, I'll take you farther back so that you have a better chance of catching up with him. It shouldn't be too hard, he's injured."

"Injured?"

"Yeah. Call me if you spot him, don't let him see you." Cloud almost smiled. "Put those ninja skills you always brag about to use."

Kadaj emerged from the field of flowers, nearly out of breath. He picked the petals out of his hair and took on a much slower pace, trying to catch his breath and maybe figure out where he was. Something about this place was incredibly familiar...Kadaj sped up the pace and not bothering to worry about the mysterious wound above his heart as it reopened. He shed the bandages and continued on. Sure enough, Kadaj started to see the pale glow of his destination, unwittingly holding his breath. The Forgotten Capital. It was still as he remember it and with a start he realized he'd really expected his brothers to be here. But they weren't, and he didn't think they ever would be. His mother wasn't talking to him either, he couldn't even feel her presence.

He really was alone. At least that's what he thought.

"Hey. You're that guy." Kadaj snapped his head up to see a little girl. Had she been among the crowd that year ago? "My papa said you were dead." The girl covered her mouth. "You're not a ghost are you?" Kadaj was silent, impartial. At least until the little girl poked him. He glared at her and she pull her finger back quickly. "You don't feel like a ghost. Are you in a bad mood?"

"Leave me alone brat." The girl went to poke him again and he grabbed her hand. "Try it again and I'll break your little fingers." The girl pouted.

"That's not nice."

"If you continue to pester me, I will be a lot more that not nice."

"You're mean." despite her declaration she sat down on the ground with him. Kadaj looked at her strangely.

"Are you hard of hearing ch-"

"I don't have Geostigma anymore." Kadaj was silenced. "I remember when you tried to help us." The girl was obviously still very uninformed. If she knew anything at all she would know that he hadn't been trying to help them at all. And that his version of healing back then had been a bit backwards.

"So, I know you're not really so bad." Kadaj looked ahead, to see a silhouette working father off. The girl followed his gaze.

"Oh, that's my Papa. He's collecting things for the shop. I don't know what though, all I see are dirt and rocks. He doesn't know I'm here, I was supposed to stay in the car." Kadaj raised an eyebrow.

"Car?"

Yuffie had been sulking through the woods, cursing and muttering when she came across the pair. She immediately hid behind one of the white barked trees, cursing fate for leading her to Kadaj. From the moment she had gotten back on that stupid bike she knew that of course it'd be her that would find him. Just because she could never _ever _catch a break.

He hadn't really changed at all, except he looked strangely older. Worn maybe. Obviously his injury had something to do with it, but his energy was different. That and he was talking to random little girls in abandoned forest patches. Weird. Then she heard the girl mention a car and she knew that little girl and father would most likely end up stranded. And...she was right. Kadaj got up and moved fairly quickly for someone injured, Yuffie noted, managing to get the father by the throat and get him to give up his keys with a sword to the face.

Yuffie followed Kadaj on a different route behind the trees, spying the pick up truck beside the road. Kadaj got in and started up the engine, sparing one last glance at the girl clinging to her father's leg. _So, I know you're not really so bad._ He rolled his eyes and started up the engine, oblivious to the ninja who'd slipped into the back.

The whole time she was rolling around underneath the tarp covering the back, Yuffie wondered why she didn't just pretend she didn't see anything. She wondered why she hadn't called Cloud yet. She thought the whole thing was completely nuts and wondered how she managed to get herself into it. And she knew that this was just the beginning. It wasn't long before the rolling around and rumbling of the engine started to get to her. Her motion sickness kicked up again and she tried to hold on until the car stopped, but she just couldn't. Her head started to pound, her palms were too sweaty to hold on to anything and before she knew it her world was going black, as her motion sickness took complete hold of her in what might've been the worst place possible.

Kadaj was oblivious to her presence as he drove on, his driving not the best. But he knew the basics and he went on, thinking about what he was to do now. Maybe look for his brothers...

He needed some sort of medical attention, but that wouldn't be too hard. He could easily get his hands on the supplies he needed. And he needed a place a to stay. The prospect of living alone without the usual presences in his life he was used to left him feeling very strange though and he gripped down on the steering wheel angrily as it dawned on him that he had no purpose whatsoever.

A light rain started up and Kadaj drove on, until something in the middle of the road made him slam the break down in surprise. There was silver hair and bright green eyes that burned right through the darkness of the early evening. Kadaj could stop himself from smiling as he hurried out of the car and ran to the figure. He was so happy, so relieved to know he was alone after all, until...

His steps came to a rapid halt and the smile dissolved off of his face. The wind picked up and the air was heavy and humid in his nose as the curtain of silver danced around in the air, shimmering like magnesium ribbons in a the middle of a war zone. Kadaj stepped back.

"No..." This really had to be a joke. The man smiled.

"Well well well. Finally we meet in the flesh." Kadaj narrowed his eyes.

"You're supposed to be dead." He said gritting his teeth.

"So are you." Sephiroth let his smile fall.

"Coexistence, Sephiroth. But how did _you_..?"

"Coexistence Kadaj, implies more than one." Kadaj was stricken.

"But not with you, I thought-"

"Who else would you coexist with?" His tone was mocking, like always.

"But I-" Sephiroth approached him.

"What? Not happy to see your dear brother?"

"Get away from me." Kadaj headed to the truck and Sephiroth followed.

"I'm afraid that's not possible." Kadaj stopped, but didn't turn around. "Now that you know I'm here, I can't have you spreading the news." This time Kadaj did turn around.

"Who would I spread it to, Sephiroth? Even if there was someone to tell, I wouldn't. Do what you will, but do it on your _own_."

"Nothing is ever that simple little brother. I have plans for this planet. Again we will have to come together, to take what is rightfully ours." Kadaj shook his head.

"It's over Sephiroth. We failed." Sephiroth frowned.

"You failed. But this time will be different. Don't you want to please mother?" Kadaj froze.

"No." Why was it still so hard to deny her?

"I know you Kadaj. I know what you need, what you want, and I know when you're lying. This is your chance." There was something about the man he couldn't quite trust, but... "You can help. Just do as I say."

"Never." Kadaj shook his head again. "I don't trust you."

"Fair enough. But this isn't about me. It's about our legacy, about mother. Don't you want her approval?" Kadaj looked away. He didn't want this. His supposed mother was a traitor, a deceitful puppet master. That's all. He knew it, he still _felt_ it. But he could also feel that urge to have it all still so deep in his bones. He was being offered a purpose again. He didn't trust Sephiroth, in fact he couldn't stand the bastard, but despite himself, it was a hard offer to turn down.

"Don't you want to feel her presence again?" Kadaj looked up into his face.

"How did you know about that?" Kadaj thought for sure that his mother's absence only applied to him. He was honestly surprised she wasn't with Sephiroth either.

"We're connected remember?" Kadaj's gaze lingered on his brother's face, daring the older man to reveal anything alluding to corrupt intentions. But even as he watched him, he knew the older man could conceal any ill will perfectly without least bit of effort. It was a little disconcerting. He didn't trust him, and he never would, but the offer was tempting.

"Why?" Kadaj asked.

"Why what?"

"Why are you doing this? Just a year ago you were did everything you could to get rid of me. What do you want from me?" Kadaj asked, suspicious.

"Nothing but your assistance little brother." Kadaj cringed. "What do you say? Kadaj thought about it silently.

"Well?"

"My answer is still no." Sephiroth didn't look the least bit flustered. And Kadaj was torn.

"Really?"

"Really. Now leave me alone."

"I should've guessed as much." Kadaj frowned.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that I was perhaps expecting too much from you. Some of us are destined for failure, and some of us...are destined for greatness."

"Just because I won't listen to yo-"

"It isn't about me. I believe you said those exact words once. This is about mother, and I thought you were devoted but-"

"I am!" Kadaj stopped himself. "I mean...I was." Sephiroth's smile was almost predatory. But Kadaj missed that completely, that and the fact that he was getting talked in a circle.

"Well, I'm giving you a chance to prove it." Kadaj shook his head. It pained him to go back to the betrayal, to remember how he'd been used and mislead. And then disposed of, like trash. But he was being offered another chance. How could he turn it down?

"I..." Sephiroth came closer.

"What happened was written in stone from the very beginning. You were my vessel, how can you blame mother for that?" Kadaj exhaled. He knew that his mother had betrayed him, but maybe he had deserved it, for failing her. Maybe this time he could do it differently, show he was worthy.. The old mentality struck back with a vengeance, except this time his resolve wasn't quite as passionate. He still had doubts and he told himself that if he sensed any real corruption he would immediately bail, but by the way he was falling for it all now, something told him it would never be that easy. And it was settled.

"Alright." he said softly.

"What?"

"I said alright, what do I do?"

"Good choice." Kadaj couldn't believe what he'd just done. Kadaj got behind the wheel and Sephiroth got in on the passenger's side.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"Showing you the way to my house. Unless you have somewhere else to go?" Kadaj really didn't, he just planned on sleeping in the car.

"Whatever."

"I think you'll like it. The last residents were such a charming family, but sadly they all met with a terrible accident..."

Kadaj drove on, blissfully unaware of the trap he'd just walked into.

By the time Yuffie awoke it was well into the night. She sat up quickly and peaked out form under the tarp. She saw a beautiful white house, very big and just a tiny bit creepy. The lights were on in the inside, making the windows bright yellow squares against the darkness. Who the hell would live in a house this secluded? There were no other houses around, just that one grand white house, in the middle of a wooded area. She figured Kadaj must be in there. Either that or she had lost him. She actually almost wished it was the latter.

She walked as quietly as she could towards the house, sighting a tree and a window not to far from one of its longest branches. She crawled up into the tree, scraping her knees a couple of times on the way. Once she was settled on the long branched she carefully reached over to raise the window, pushing the glass up with the palms of her hands.

Yuffie planned on making a quick sweep of the house, figuring the little girl and her father had somehow gotten the truck back, and that it might possibly be their house she was breaking into. She didn't know why she just didn't make her way home already, and just say she never saw him at all. But strangely enough, even as she prayed that it would be the little girl and the father she'd find, she was also anticipating what it could be like to look him in the eye again, and what his face would look like when the kunoichi butt-kicking commenced. The very thought brought a smile to her face. She saw the hallway was clear, leading to what lo..._oh shit._

She froze when she heard his voice. A mumble just outside of the door. But it was him,_ definitely_ him. She panicked and ran to the closest place of refuge, a closet, offhandedly noticing the walls were a bubblegum pink. How strange. She was trembling, all of her thoughts of revenge somewhere else entirely. His steps were light against the carpet, his feet shadows under the space of the closet door. She heard the sound of his sword sliding out and she felt her heart jump up into her throat, because she knew he'd actually do it. She thought again of the mess of feathers on her bed a year ago.

"Come out." The voice was a smooth as she remembered, the same as what her dreams wouldn't let her forget. She made no move to leave the closet. "Whoever you are, you're not very smart, hiding in a closet. You have no place to run, no place to hide. You might as well reveal yourself." Yuffie did no such thing. His voice grew louder, the closer he came and Yuffie cringed as the doorknob began to turn. "It's no use, I can hear your heartbe-" Kadaj cut himself short as he flung the door open and he spied the girl in the closet. The one that was supposed to be dead. Green eyes wide and muscles taut, Souba fell straight to the ground.


	15. Enthalpy

Kadaj felt his mouth go dry, and was vaguely aware of how stupid he must look. He closed his mouth and narrowed his eyes. There was just no way. He mused that maybe the girl in his closet was a figment of his bothersome conscience. It wasn't as if he had much of one, but the shred he did have had a habit of holding onto stupidity like this. The simple task of removing an imperfect, rather _annoying_ life that he was sure wouldn't have chafed him one little bit had he been stronger.

But as she lowered her head, eyes drawn to the sword that lay at her knees, he caught it. The smell that he could practically taste right on his tongue. Fear. He remembered the intoxication of knowing just what his power could do to people. He shivered as a ghost of the feeling found its way under his skin. But that's all it was, a ghost, a memory.

Sure, he could _remember_ it, but now he just didn't care. Her fear brought him no joy, no pain, nothing. But it was that fear that alerted him to the fact that there in front of him was no figment of his nearly non existent conscience.

"I can't believe this." Kadaj turned away from her and went to the window. "Does anyone die any more?" Yuffie felt a little insulted. How about, 'Sorry for the molestation.' or maybe even 'Sorry for the attempted murder.' Even 'I've been a major asshole.' would be nice. Ah, wishful thinking.

He glanced over at Yuffie again still not believing his eyes, laughing quietly to himself, although he didn't find it particularly funny. He was really growing to hate surprises. How had she outsmarted him? _Him_? He ignored the knot in his stomach that had suddenly vanished, as he realized by some strange miracle that his hands were free of her blood. No, he didn't care. And he _certainly_ wasn't the least bit relieved. Because that would mean he'd actually cared at some point. And he didn't. Because that was weakness. And he wasn't weak. Not anymore.

Her presence was really starting to grate on him, and he gripped the window ledge, staring at the ridges of the trees outside. She hadn't even opened her mouth and she was still annoying him. And then that was it, he moved away from the window, scowling. He crossed his arms and moved away from it.

If there was one thing his mother had been right about it was what a distraction she was. And he had things to do and no time or tolerance for any of it.

"Get out." the command was vicious, but very tired underneath the bite.

Yuffie raised herself to her feet, his reaction the last thing she'd expected. He was going to let her go? And not kill her?

Yuffie ran over to the window. She had one leg out when she realized he was doing nothing to stop her. He leaned against the wall, pretending to find something else in the room more interesting.

"You're just going to let me leave?" He nodded. "What's the catch?"

"There is no catch." Yuffie glanced out of the window, seething. How could he be so nonchalant about this? Didn't he want to know why and how she was alive? Didn't he want to know how she'd tracked him? She hated it when her cleverness wasn't appreciated.

"Fine. I'll just go...now." Yuffie put her foot onto a branch. "I'm leaving..." Kadaj did nothing. Yuffie stepped back in and closed the window hard.

"You know what, you drive me nuts! You aren't the least bit shocked? Curious? Goddamnit, I even had the decency to gasp when I found out about you!"

"You missed me?" Yuffie glared. "That's actually very touching." he said flatly.

"Yeah, you'd know a lot about touching." He looked as if he was about to retort, but thought better of getting into it with her. He was _not_ going to fall into old patterns.

"Out." She was _baiting_ him, and he knew it.

"You don't want know how I outsmarted you?" More bait. This time he bit. Yuffie felt her back smack into the wall as he pushed her shoulders back and held her there. He glanced quickly at his hands, absolutely certain now that she was real. Yuffie felt the pressure lighten just a bit, as if he'd rather not be touching her at all.

Truly though, this sudden reappearance was more of a curse than a blessing simply because to him, she was a blotch on what had been a perfect, clean slate. There had been no failure until she'd come into the picture, and caused whatever had happened to happen. He wasn't sure he knew what that was, but he knew for sure that it was her fault, and his for letting her pull him in. How that had happened confused and angered him. And he wanted to separate himself from it. He could just kill her and end her influence definitely, but strangely enough he just wasn't in the mood.

He figured it was probably because he was so tired.

"Get. Out. I'm not in the mood right now, but if I ever see your face again, I'll make sure no one else ever does." She glanced at his sword on the floor, then at him. Not the reaction she'd been expecting. Not at all. "Just leave, while you still have your life intact." Yuffie swallowed, staring at him, slightly shocked.

"Okay...I'll just leave then..." Yuffie opened the window and glanced back at his face. His expression gave her nothing back. She frowned and she got herself onto the large tree branch. He moved over to the window. She halted again, eyes defiant. "How do you know I won't tell them where you are?" He nearly smiled.

"You won't." With that he closed the window in her face, walking away to some other room. Yuffie crawled down eventually, and went about finding her way home.

Kadaj pushed open the bathroom door and stepped in, switching the faucet on as cold as it could get. He had really done that. He'd really just let her go, scot-free. He passed his hands under the stream, delighting in the way the ice water woke him up. He splashed his face and moved to look at his reflection, knowing that doing what he'd done had left loose ends, space to be discovered. Maybe he wanted to be found out. Kadaj turned the faucet off, and 'hmphed.' He wasn't even sure he knew what he wanted.

Yuffie knew she didn't mix with any sort of transportation, but she was confident when it came to her own two feet against the land. She tried not to think about Kadaj, but seeing him alive provided no satisfaction for her, no closure. Honestly though, that wasn't really the meat of what was bothering her. How could he just shoo her out like she didn't matter? _Why_ did she even want to matter?

She could still feel his hands on her that one night. She thought about the death threat she'd just received. Some things just never change. She didn't know why that disappointed her.

It was a long, tiring trip through the woods but she finally made it back to Edge. It had to be at least midnight. When she walked into the bar it was completely empty, except for one. He turned away from the bar quickly, his keys jingling in his hand.

"Are you alright?" Cloud walked up to her, his eyes intense. Yuffie nodded.

"Yeah, I'm fine...you were worried about me?" It was more of a surprised statement to herself. He was silent. She looked at the clock and realized she had been gone nearly five hours. Maybe she should have called. Cloud did look a bit unsettled, now that she thought about it.

She imagined he must of thought Kadaj had gotten to her or something. And she knew him well enough to know that he had probably thought he was responsible for another life lost. Yuffie rolled her eyes. "Hello?" Cloud pocketed his keys and frowned.

"Just call next time." His words kind of caught her off guard. She thought that maybe he might scold her, or not say anything at all but genuine concern? That was just weird. And...maybe sorta kinda nice, but mainly weird. Her expression softened.

"Um...yeah sure." She pursed her lips and shifted uncomfortably underneath the awkward warm moment. "If you answer your phone that is!" Cloud nodded once and his eyes were a different kind of serious. He looked around before talking to her.

"Did you find him?" Yuffie studied the pattern of the slats in the hardwood floor, then the lights in the ceiling. She looked him in the eye, shuffling her feet and biting her lip.

_How do you know I won't tell them where you are?_

_You won't._

She fidgeted under his steady gaze and went to finding patterns in the floor again. _Just tell him and that will be that. Just say it..._

"No. No I didn't find him." she said with a more than a tinge of guilt.

Of all times for her morals to kick in, it had to be now. He had actually been being decent to her and she was lying to his face. Oh yeah, _and_ possibly putting the planet in danger. He nodded, shoulders slumping. Yuffie felt so guilty. Not to mention confused and a little angry for proving that bastard right. Cloud left almost directly after that, telling her she shouldn't involve herself anymore. It wasn't safe apparently. _Yeah, well no kidding._ But she didn't argue back for once, in a hurry to just placate him and hurry off to bed.

She made up her mind that she would tell him the truth tomorrow. Honestly though, she couldn't even begin to understand what had made her lie. She blamed it on sleep depravation.

She practically ran home, happy to get into her nice warm bed or a hot shower. But as she stood in front of her door searching her pockets, she noticed that something was missing. She dug frantically for her keys, but they didn't turn up. She rested her head against the door, trying to figure out when it was the last time she had them. She swore out loud when she remembered. She didn't want to admit it, but the last time she'd even heard them jingle was in Kadaj's closet.

She banged her fists against the door and swore again, ready to just sleep in the hall.

"Is there a problem?" A stern voice said behind her. She turned around quickly to see a rumpled Vincent in mid yawn. His hair was in even more disarray than it usually was and Yuffie got the impression she'd woken him up. His eyes were frozen on her, his expression solemn and as usual when it came to him she was slow on the uptake.

His eyes changed when she stared a little too long, his mouth stretching into a line.

"You're not wearing a shirt..." Yuffie only realized what she said until it was out of her mouth. His eyebrows raised. "I mean...you...I...locked myself out." she gave up, surrendering to the spirit of her day and cursing the crush she'd had on him that had never truly dissipated.

"Your keys?"

"I left em in Ka..I mean...I gave em' to Cloud." Vincent didn't bother to ask why. But he didn't think he'd ever seen the girl look so dejected. There was a long silence between them, Vincent just considering her in the doorway, stonefaced, and her standing awkwardly across from him redfaced.

"You can sleep with me tonight." Yuffie's head snapped up, her eyes wide as saucers.

"Wha...?"

"You can take the couch if you'd like."

"Uh..yeah. Thanks." Yuffie got up and Vincent let her go by, closing the door behind them. She looked around at the modest furnishing and took her shoes off. "Thanks again, I can't tell you what a crappy day it's been." She didn't need to, he could see it written all over her face. She sat down on the couch gingerly, still taking in her surroundings. Vincent appeared again with blankets. She grinned and blushed, taking them from him.

He stood straight and glanced at the kitchen, it was kind of apparent he didn't often keep company.

"Are you hungry?" Yuffie shook her head and Vincent laughed quietly. Deep and startling just like his eyes. "You're not?" What was the world coming to?

"Nah, just sleepy." The edges of his eyes wrinkled and he nodded.

"Goodnight then." Yuffie settled into the couch.

"Night Vincent."

Before she could reach sleep though, the happenings of her day filled her head. More than anything, she wondered if she would ever see Kadaj again. She wondered if her keys were worth the risk. She wondered how she was going to break the news tomorrow. She figured that if she didn't, Cloud would eventually find him. Right? She wondered why she would even _think_ about not telling him. She thought about Cloud's warnings not to involve herself anymore. Yuffie had a feeling that if he knew what she'd been through with Kadaj a year ago, he would never treat her like a kid again.

She considered herself to have a killer survival instinct. Only no one really knew about it, no one knew that she'd escaped death so many times with Kadaj. And that same survival instinct told her that that's how it was going to stay. Because if anyone found out what had gone on between them, she'd be dead for sure.

But then as she thought about her many evasions of death when it came to Kadaj, she realized something she couldn't believe she'd missed...

Kadaj awoke in the new spring heat nearly pouring sweat. Well, for once his dreams were his own, but they weren't any good. So his mind was finally without his older brother's presence and it was still betraying him. He could still see her.

He could still see her sprawled out on his bed, so provacative, so slender, even though she was constantly talking and interrupting his thoughts. Kadaj, headed for the bathroom hoping a shower would help snap him out of it.

The shower was quick and Kadaj decided not to put on his old clothes. Maybe there was something cleaner and less conspicuous around the house. He descended the stairs, his nose immediately filled with a stark minty odor that struck him as a bit medicinal. There was also something else in the air, it smelled like food?

Sephiroth looked up from a manila folder in his hands.

"Good morning little brother." Kadaj only glared. "Sleep well?" Kadaj didn't say anything back, already thoroughly annoyed, just looking at his face made him want to punch it, regardless of the fact that they looked so much alike. "You ought to get that taken care of." Sephiroth said, his eyes still on whatever it was he was reading.

Kadaj got some milk and sat down at the other end of the long table. Sephiroth smiled, letting his eyes flicker to the wound above Kadaj's heart. The injury he'd gotten during that chaotic birth from the lifestream. Kadaj pursed his lips and drank up, eyes never leaving the elder. The thick silver spilled down over the chair and onto the floor. He would never understand the logic in keeping his hair that long. He remembered Yuffie's remark about girly hair and smiled.

"Something funny?" The question dared him to say yes. Kadaj got up and threw the carton away, then made to go up to his room.

"Sit." Kadaj paused. What did he think he was, his dog?

"Who do you think you are?"

"Your only hope." Kadaj turned around slowly. "Take a seat Kadaj." he said softly. Kadaj walked over to the table and sat back down, glaring daggers at the man. Sephiroth got up and moved to the counter, taking two plates into his hands. He sat back down with his plate and slid the other over to Kadaj. The plate slid down the incredible length of the table without spilling a bit of food and Kadaj looked at it suspiciously, although his stomach began to growl. "Eat. I promise it's not poisoned." Kadaj curled his lip.

"And surprisingly, that means nothing to me." Kadaj said flatly.

"Now, now, I slaved over a hot stove all morning for that." Kadaj looked at the bread, sandwich meat and apple sauce on his plate and then back at Sephiroth. Haha. Well, he supposed he could eat the bread and the bologna if he wiped it off, but there was no telling what he had done to the applesauce. Kadaj just decided to leave it alone.

"What do you want?"

"To settle a few things."

Kadaj only watched him. That same megalomania he'd been drunk with was right there in front of him. Only about a hundred times worse. And Kadaj knew he was the one feeding it. He wondered if he had ever been so high on power, if he had ever been so crazed with it.

"Well, what?" Kadaj asked.

"I sense hesitance Kadaj." He set the manila envelope down on the table. " Like I said, this will be a joint effort. And there is no margin for error, you understand? So, if you are indeed feeling the least bit of reluctance, kindly say so." Kadaj smiled, seeing it for what it was.

Another power trip.

"And If I say I am?" the edge of the older man's mouth quirked just slightly, a precursor of genuine annoyance.

"I'll kill you." the words were as easy and casual as if he'd just asked him to pass the salt.

"What? Can't stand the thought of something being out of your control?" The quirk ceased, melting into what was now a frown. Kadaj knew he'd hit a nerve.

"You must think a lot of yourself." The voice there was nothing like before, lacking all of the sugar often present. Kadaj held his gaze. Didn't he have reason to be hesitant? Especially now that he was working with his snake of a brother? Yes, he was hesitant, yes he was uncertain if this was what he really wanted. But he was still going to go for it. What the hell else was there to do? If someone waved something you had wanted more than anything in front of your face and you had no other purpose, you were_ going_ to take it. He wasn't in it to destroy the planet, he was in it for his mother.

There was so much unfinished, so much he had to prove. Maybe she'd finally accept him. Whether that was stupid and naive or not, he really tried not to think about.

"Why's that?"

"You see me here in the flesh and you think that you're free, maybe even _special._ But you're still a remnant, a piece lost without the others." Kadaj gritted his teeth as Sephiroth slipped in a not so subtle reminder that Yazoo and Loz were gone. "But I am completely whole, and so much more than you could ever hope to be. Don't make the mistake of believing otherwise. Controlling you would be no great conquest."

Kadaj looked away.

"Are you done?"

"Not quite." He slid the manila folder over the Kadaj. "Get the materials listed. You'll probably be able to find most of it in ShinRa's storage."

"I didn't agree to this to be your goddamned servant."

"You'll do your part, I'll do mine."

"And what are you doing?"

"Finding my set of...materials. So I'm afraid I'll be gone quite a bit. But that doesn't mean you can do as you please. If I find you were anywhere near my wing of the house, I will make you regret it. Oh and one last rule." his eyes were cruel. "No humans. Although I don't worry too much about that one. I think you learned your lesson. Was it...Yuffie? Yes, I think so. And unless you want to end up like her, you'll cooperate."

Kadaj didn't like one bit how her name sounded in his mouth. But then it hit him, Sephiroth still thought Yuffie was dead. It made quite a bit of sense that because Kadaj had believed her dead after the 'murder' so did Sephiroth. But now that they were separate entities...Kadaj kept the smile off of his face.

Sephiroth obviously really did have things to do, because not long after their little chat the older man slipped out of the house, driving off in Kadaj's car before the younger could realize it or wonder how in hell he got the keys. Kadaj found some new clothes in what he guessed was the laundry room. There was a basket of clean clothes right on top of the machine and Kadaj felt a bit strange thinking about that for reasons he didn't understand. He supposed this ordinary family, busy with ordinary things had never seen it coming.

Sephiroth didn't even bother to get rid of the family pictures. Kadaj just now thought about the room he'd been sleeping in. Pink walls, floral print covers all the poofy little numbers in the closet. Must be the little girl in the portrait upstairs. It didn't make him feel either way about their sudden deaths, but for the first time he gave a bit more thought to the death part.

It wasn't emotional by any means or remorseful, but simple evaluation. Was it really necessary to kill them? Kadaj decided that yes, it was. He and Sephiroth both needed a place to stay and to start. But this question stood rooted in his brain and he found himself thinking about his own past murders. More specifically the ones he'd taken just because he felt like it. Had those been necessary? Kadaj sighed, probably not.

It was a very strange kind of detached hindsight that took him by surprise.

But he supposed death put a whole new spin on things. Not a terribly dramatic spin, but one nonetheless. He wondered what kind of person could come back from death without a new perspective. Well, he did know one person who never seemed to change no matter how many times his heart stopped beating. _Sephiroth._ He smiled as he pin pointed one difference between them.

Although Sephiroth still seemed to have all his faith in mother. _Well why wouldn't he?_ Kadaj thought bitterly. Their mother had never betrayed him. Kadaj found himself quietly loathing Jenova and yet still craving the affection she had to offer. He didn't understand it. But what he did understand was that he could never fully trust her again, which was one new perspective he could've done without.

Yuffie didn't make a move until she saw the car drive off. Even her realization the night before hadn't been enough to get her to be that risky, it only served to prompt her to go get the damn keys. She went the same route as before, pushing the window up and creeping quietly inside. Everything looked and felt so different in the light of late morning.

She looked around, taking in a room that clearly used to be little girl's. She felt a bit sick to her stomach, maybe she was wrong. Maybe the realization was just her trying to reassure herself, maybe nothing really had changed. Yuffie reluctantly moved forward, wondering when Kadaj had started killing children too. Yuffie shook her head. _Focus, the keys._

"Look at who it is." the voice cut through her like anything else with so sharp an edge. She whipped around, disbelief and fear in her eyes. She'd seen the car drive away! She looked to the closet. "There is either something really spectacular about that closet, or you really are this stupid." He chuckled. "Probably the latter, hm?" His eyes caught the sunlight for a split second as he slowly made his way over to her. His clothes were different, still all black and kind of tight...

Yuffie blushed. Now was _really_ not the time. Yuffie was suddenly struck by a bit of genius.

"Whooo..." she waved her arms around. "You are only dreeeaaaming..." Okay maybe not. It didn't look like he was buying it at all, in fact it looked as if she'd made him even angrier. Upon his scowl, she recoiled. "Okay, just kidding!" She pointed a shaking finger to the closet. "I accidentally left my keys here, honest. I just want to get them go home and...not die?" Kadaj's expression didn't change.

Did she think him so big of a joke that she felt as if she could just disregard his threat? Did she honestly believe he wouldn't take her life a second time, that she had such a power over him that he wouldn't? The very suggestion hit a couple of nerves for reasons he never wanted to explore. He could easily take her life. _Easily_, he told himself. He had followed through with it once, he could do it a second time. Right? He was taking this sudden appearance quite personally, and as the challenge that it was.

But then that same question echoed. Was killing her really necessary? Kadaj decided that yes, it was, although another voice said exactly the opposite. It was necessary because she knew his location, but the other voice told him that hadn't stopped him from letting her go before. Kadaj gritted his teeth. It was necessary because if she would show up twice she would show up a third time. And she would distract him like last time, letting her live would inevitably lead to his deviation from the goal.

But those same reasons to kill her pointed to a much bigger problem. That she had such a hold on him, he had to resort to murder to escape it. That he truly wasn't immune to her, and knew it.

Teeny tiny conscience: 2. Kadaj: 0. Kadaj was fuming. Yuffie was inching towards the door.

"Where do you think you're going?" she tensed up.

"Home?" Kadaj narrowed his eyes.

"I don't think so." Yuffie frowned, he wasn't going to let her go.

"Yeah, well who cares what you think!" her outburst caught him by surprise, he blinked. He recovered quickly.

"You do." he said cooly. Yuffie ground her teeth.

"Like hell I do." Yuffie knew now he would definitely not let her go. But she couldn't control her mouth and refused to even try. She had a lot of things to say to him and he would just have to take it. "But I bet you wish I did. But you can't control me and you never did."

"If that is what you have to tell yourself." Yuffie was nearly vibrating with bad energy.

"What I have to- you are such a _jerk_."

"Funny how that didn't stop you from throwing yourself at me." Yuffie almost lost her words.

"I...didn't throw myself at you!"

"Sure you didn't. Just like you didn't let me undress you, just like you didn't call my name..."

"I...didn't..." Kadaj frowned.

"You did. And you liked it." Yuffie's whole face was red and she was shaking, she was so angry. She could blindly deny it all she wanted, she knew he was probably telling the truth. She felt so embarrassed and stupid. Kadaj was doing himself in as he reminded her, because that served to only refresh his memory as well, to remind his body. He hadn't been this worked up since he had come back to life.

Yuffie's face cleared when she remembered something Reno had laughed about after the big fight.

"At least I don't carry my mother around in a box." Yuffie crossed her arms in self satisfaction, but upon glancing at Kadaj's face she realized she had said the wrong thing. The wrongest wrong thing. He didn't look just angry, he looked...something else she felt uncomfortable pinpointing. And now, she kind of felt like a jerk. Kind of.

He punched her right in the mouth, she didn't remember him being close enough to do that. She hit the floor hard, holding her mouth and hoping no teeth were broken. She could taste her own blood, salty and tart against her tongue. That wasn't a good sign. She looked up at him, the tiny bit of remorse she'd had gone. His eyes were bright with anger, his knuckles white.

"Shut up. You have no _idea_ of what you speak." She took her hands away from her mouth, looking at her bloody fingers. He reached for his sword.

"Then why don't you explain it to me, coward?" he stopped. No matter what he did, that mouth... "Since you're _so_ misunderstood, so much better than everyone else... asshole."

The thoughts were disjointed, but her mockery came across loud and clear. He was incredulous. "Why don't you fight me without your toy?" His laughter confused the mood. Her suggestion made him forget everything for a moment, ridiculous. The girl was ridiculous.

"You're serious?" Yuffie rose to her feet.

"As a heart attack. Fair and square." Kadaj snorted.

"Between you and me, there could be no such thing."

"Scared?" his eyes twitched.

"Amused." he retorted.

"It's okay, ninjas _are_ intimidating." he rolled his eyes.

"Ninja huh? I think you would have made a better clown." That was one of Yuffie's sore spots and she struck, more quickly than he thought she could. She kicked the crook of his leg and he budged just enough so that her next punch to his bewildered face moved him a bit. It wasn't much but it was enough to buy her time to hightail it out of there with his sword in hand.

He was hot on her heels and she knew it. She skidded to a stop at the other end of the hallway that connected the two wings of the house. She looked over the balcony down into what she guessed was the living room. Raising his sword, she sunk halfway into a stance. He stopped as well, watching her curiously. He laughed again.

"You're not even holding it right." Yuffie looked at her hands self-consciously.

"So!"

"So...give it up. We both know how this will end."

"Yeah? How?"

"With you begging for mercy, and me being not so obliged."

"Never." She charged and he easily deflected her, knocking the sword from her hands and her feet from under her. The hilt of his sword was thrust into her side and she gritted her teeth against the pain, using her palms to push herself back up. She put her hands up and got into position. He rolled his eyes as she charged again. She was shoved easily back to the floor.

"You want to fight, little girl?" She ignored him and tried to get up, but he'd tangled his hand in her hair, snapping the band and keeping her head down. He was still and she could feel his eyes on her.

"Your hair's longer." he said offhandedly. She looked up at him. What a stupid thing to notice at a time like this. They kind of just stayed like that for a second. Yuffie glared.

"Yeah, it is." Kadaj seemed to consider her. She glared at him, what a stupid thing to say, what a stupid boy, such stupid butterflies in her stomach. Wait, _what?_ She certainly didn't care if he'd noticed something like her hair, if he didn't like it or if he did...

"It looked better short." Kadaj said. The butterflies died. Yuffie brought her knee up to connect with a very sensitive area, but he was wise to her tricks and moved quickly away from her. She tried to get up and go again but he pinned her down, making sure she couldn't use her legs by using his own to keep them down. Yuffie rocked her hips and chest up against him and managed to overturn his weight, pushing his sword through the bars of the balcony and sailing down into the living room.

She straddled him, her knees raw from the friction of the carpet. He looked up at her through hair that was nearly hiding both of his eyes, his hands secured firmly about her wrists.

"So, is this what fair and square is? It looks like you're using every dirty trick in the book to me." Yuffie struggled and shook and tried everything to release herself. "I can kill you without the sword you know." Yuffie pouted and sulked as he easily and quite slowly turned them both till he was on top. He smiled. "I think you like this."

"You can got to hell."

"But, I'm already here." his hand went for her neck and her freed hand went for his hair. She pulled. Hard. He winced, unwittingly letting both of her hands free. She pushed him off with much effort and stood up. But he was up just as quick, leaning back against the banister. He pulled her to him, but under the force the thing collapsed under them both. But only one went falling into the living room. Yuffie wobbled and balanced herself, arms flailing. She gained her balance and breathed a sigh of relief, flashing a smile as Kadaj crashed into the coffee table below. She quickly took off into the other wing. Sephiroth's wing.

"You can't run from me!" he yelled. Yuffie ran her butt off, disappearing into the closest room with a window. She leaned against the closed door and took a breath. Locking the door behind her, she observed the room she was in, large bed, thick curtains, an incredibly long sword hanging above the bed...Yuffie didn't know why, but it looked so familiar. Then she spotted it, the tell-tale glow under the bed. She couldn't help herself and got to her knees, looking under the bed and proving her instinct right. Materia. And a good amount of it. From what she could tell they were all cure. She grabbed a few orbs for herself and made an exit out of the window.

He was sure she'd gone into the other wing of the house. He didn't even think to remember Sephiroth's words. Even if he did, he probably wouldn't have cared. Once he got to the main hall of the wing he noticed that same medicinal smell from earlier. But it was so much stronger. And yet there was no Yuffie. He couldn't even pick out her heartbeat, but he could hear the wind coming in through an open window. Damnit, he'd been careless. He busted through the door and lo and behold the window was wide open.

He leaned on the sill, taking in what was now a warm mid afternoon. Had he wasted so much time? He frowned when he realized that she had done it again. Gotten him distracted and off track. He turned away from the window (with some reluctance) and went to his room to get the manila folder. He'd deal with her later, it wouldn't be that hard for him to track her. He had important things to do.

Meanwhile Yuffie's lies were catching up with her without her even knowing it.

"Did Yuffie give you her keys?" Cloud asked. Tifa ceased wiping the counter down, raising her eyebrows.

"No. Why would she?" Tifa smiled and Cloud scratched his head.

"I don't know. I thought you might know what's going on." Tifa brought out a pan and some eggs.

"What are you talking about?" Tifa asked. Cloud looked out of the window.

"Vincent was just here. He said that Yuffie told him she'd given her keys to me." Tifa's eyes narrowed.

"Hmmm...looks like Yuffie told a story." Cloud watched Tifa crack the eggs open.

"Yeah, well she tells a lot of those lately." Tifa nodded.

"Yeah. She probably didn't want to admit that she lost her keys again." Tifa said, making excuses for her friend and yet not really believing it herself. The girl had been a little off for a while, but she had just figured it was nothing. Maybe it was something. Tifa just didn't know what. She knew the girl could be secretive and too proud to ask for help, maybe she just needed to do a bit of investigation. She would hate to think that she was in any trouble. "Wait, Vincent was here?" Cloud nodded. "He never visits!"

"Actually, I invited him." Cloud moved his eyes to his own hands.

"Oh?" Tifa tilted her head to the side. "Why?"

"...Just to talk." Tifa gave him a strange look. Cloud got up.

"I've gotta go." his calloused hand moved to cup her cheek, and he looked so somber. Well, more than usual. "I'll be back." he was gone before she could ask why or where. Why did it feel as if everyone around her was keeping secrets?

Yuffie followed Kadaj from a distance. He might have heightened senses but she was sure the distance and her astounding ninja skills would keep her covered. She watched as he made his way into the partially charred ShinRa storage. Yuffie pondered in the tall grass. So it had been him who'd broken into the storage and destroyed it like that?

She entered after him, making sure to keep quiet. Inside was nearly monochromatic, everything was grey and steely, either from ashes or in actuality. Why would he do all of this? Yuffie remembered watching the news with Cloud. Could it be that he wasn't out to kill the planet anymore? She doubted it. It was like that for a while, Kadaj would slip passed the guards standing watch and she would as well, just not as easily.

If there was one thing she would ever admit about him, it would be that he was undeniably graceful. He continued to collect items and put them into his pack, and when he finally tucked the folder away with all of the stolen goods, he moved to leave. But Yuffie got a little careless, and he slipped out of sight. She looked for him, still trying to be quiet. Just when she thought she'd heard him she was snatched into a dark crevice in the wall.

"You truly do have a death wish." She couldn't even see his face, just the glow of his eyes.

"Kadaj?" she asked quietly.

"Who else?" Yuffie struggled.

"Get your hands off of me."

"You were following me. I'm not sure I understand what this infatuation you have with m-"

"Infat...I don't have an infatuation...you wish!"

"Then why did you follow me?" Good question. His hands stayed gripping the front of her shirt.

"I had to make sure you aren't going to kill the planet." Silence.

"I don't bother myself with that anymore. You're not telling the whole truth. Why were you following me?" Yuffie stared into the darkness. Well, for one, she _certainly_ wasn't looking for an excuse not to tell Cloud!

"How did you know?"

"You're about as graceful as an elephant. I thought you'd be caught by the guards, but it seems incompetence runs in all branches of this damned company." there was silence.

"Are...you calling me fat?" Kadaj sighed.

"Listen. If you know what's good for you, you'll end this obsession you seem to have with me."

"Wow. Conceited much?" somewhere along the line they forgot to lower their voices. "Just so you know, I didn't plan on running into you today. I waited until I thought you drove off." Yuffie was silent. "Hey, wait. Who was that driving off in the car then?" Kadaj knew the truth wouldn't do.

"Loz." it just slipped out of his mouth.

"He's alive too!" there was a heavy silence. "How about Yaz-"

"That's it. Did you not understand me when I told you what I'd do to you if I saw your face again? You had two chances. And still you come back. I ought to kill you right here." It was now that Yuffie decided to divulge her realization.

"Bullshit."

"What?"

"I said bullshit. You know, before I went to sleep last night I thought about everything that happened with us a year ago. And you know what I noticed? How full of crap you are. How many times have you threatened to kill me Kadaj? Can you even count the times? Funny thing is, I'm still alive."

"I did try to kill you." he had a point, but she had a better one.

"I thought about that part too." Yuffie sighed "But it was still hard for you, I know because I watched you do it. Last night, I couldn't believe you let me go. I was even scared as I climbed into what I thought was an empty house. But I'm not scared now because I look back and see all the opportunity you've had to kill me, even now. Then when you didn't come after me, I knew I was right." there was a long silence until Kadaj spoke.

"You don't know anything."

"I know that you won't do it a second time. Am I wrong?" Silence. And Yuffie knew it was crazy but she went on. "If I am, prove it. Because I'm calling your bluff."

They both heard the guards approaching and she could feel Kadaj's eyes on her.

_I'm calling your bluff._

The guards got closer. Yuffie could hear the bunching of the leather boots. Before she could react she was pushed out of the crevice and into their direct path. The guards were on her and when she looked back to the space where they had been she couldn't see him there at all.

There were many perks to being of age to drink, but jail was not one of them. It was a small secluded cell, no big time penitentiary but Yuffie was uncomfortable nonetheless. She didn't want to call Tifa to get her out because she would undoubtedly go ballistic.

So she really had no choice but to call Cloud. She didn't know how to explain herself. There was already so much on her mind. She had been right. Kadaj hadn't made a move to kill her. She didn't know how to feel about it.

"What in the hell did you do?" he asked in a voice that suggested he was used to her escapades. She looked uo, but instead of seeing blue eyes, she saw red. Cloud and Vincent stood side by side. Yuffie blushed furiously, Vincent the last person in the world she wanted to be seen by like this. Cloud shook his head. "Well?"

"I..."

"She was discovered trespassing on ShinRa property. Private storage." Both sets of eyes narrowed. Uh oh. Cloud turned away from her to ask the guard for some privacy, but Vincent kept his eyes on her. Once the guard was gone, Cloud spoke.

"What did you think you were doing?" Yuffie shrugged.

"I was looking for you know who." Cloud held his head.

"I thought I told you not to involve yourself anymore."

"And you thought I'd listen, clearly, you don't know me very well."

"Yuffie..." Cloud looked a bit angry.

"I just wanted to help." Cloud sighed.

"I know, but what would you have done if you had found him?"

"Ask him to fight me fair and square." Vincent gave her a strange look.

"Be serious. I don't think you understand-" Vincent interrupted.

"Yuffie, you needn't bother yourself with it anymore." Yuffie looked at him, Cloud told him about Kadaj? "Cloud and I _will_ find him." there was something behind those scarlet eyes, something that made her feel completely naked.

"O...okay." was all she could say.

They both got out of there as quick as they could after that. Yuffie glanced one last time at the cell, eyes falling on the man behind the counter. Her mouth fell open and she wanted to inspect further but Cloud pulled her along. They were nearly at the bar when Yuffie gave the shock up, thinking she'd been dreaming, because she could've sworn she'd seen a glint of silver.


	16. Entropy

"_Please, my child..."_

"_Stop groveling, it's disgusting."_

"_You don't seem to understand..."_

" _I understand more than I ever have, which is why I no longer require your presence."_

"_You ungrateful fool, you are nothing without me!"_

"_Is that so? So tell me, what are you planning to do without me? Who will carry out your plans? No, I think that it is you who needs me. But I'm not so generous right now."_

"_I am a part of you, you can't get rid of me, you're not even strong enough."_

"_Maybe not right now, but once I am I will rid myself of you, and you will be lost to the world. Unless you have any other connections?"_

"_Have you forgotten about Kadaj?"_

"_Oh, you don't know?"_

"_Know what?"_

"_I took care of him in the lifestream. He'll die before he has a chance to be reborn. Even if you could somehow reach him, he'll be too weak to understand." there was laughter. _

"_Perhaps you ought to give your younger brother more credit."_

"_What are you talking about?"_

"_He's alive. Alive and healing. And when he's strong enough, I will reach him."_

"_...Alive?"_

"_Yes."_

"_Hm...even if you speak the truth, you are no longer in a position of power. Once I expel your presence, you will never be able to reach Kadaj. He is more of me than he is of you, and once you are gone from me, you will be gone from him as well."_

"_Only if you are strong enough in time. Rebirth has rendered you both weak, and you aren't strong enough to expel my presence yet. I am still a part of him, and I will aid him in his healing. Soon he'll be strong enough to hear me, soon he'll be able to carry out my will."_

"_Not if I get to him first."_

Kadaj made his way to the house, his pace slow. _I'm calling your bluff._ Every time he thought about it, he felt his blood start to boil. Never in his life, had anyone dared to call him out like that. But it wasn't so much that, because in the time he'd known her she'd done nothing but do what no one else had dared to. It didn't surprise him that she had been so bold as to assume that he couldn't take her life a second time, what really got to him was that she was right.

He'd never been in such a position before. One human dead was a good thing. Well, it used to be. Kadaj wasn't quite sure what was going on. Her reappearance was a curse, so why couldn't he do it? He'd 'killed' her before, as well as many others. So why was it that now he found himself in a such a confusing position of weakness? When she had challenged him, his first thought had been to kill her right there, prove her wrong. But for some reason it hadn't been worth it.

He didn't understand why he couldn't bring himself to do it, and he wasn't sure he even wanted to understand. He entered the house through the kitchen, and set his bag of materials down on the table. All of the lights were off, but he could see well enough, so he didn't bother with them.

"Do you remember what I told you about my wing of the house?" Sephiroth's voice rolled from out of the darkness unexpectedly, Kadaj twisted around to face eyes like his own peering out at him in the darkness. "Come here."

"I'm not in the mood for you right now." Sephiroth rose out of his chair.

"Well, I guess that's too bad isn't it?" the older man approached him, but Kadaj stood his ground, watching as the man came to stand over him, looking very pale. He watched the older man look him over. "You're healing so well..." he said, eyes narrowed.

"Yes, it seems there are perks to being a part of you." Kadaj said, smelling that same medicinal odor again.

"There's more than that little one."

"Not that much more."

"Would you rather be human then?" Sephiroth's lip curled. "Like your dead princess?"

"Don't talk about her."

"Is that a sore spot Kadaj? Poor little remnant. No brothers, no girlfriend, but there is something you do have."

"What is that? You? Because surprisingly, that doesn't make me feel any better." Kadaj kept his voice even, though he really wanted to punch him in the face. No, who was he kidding? His new leaf was only half turned. He wanted to kill him. He wanted to very much.

"No, you have my materia."

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Sephiroth struck him in the face, and his head whipped around. Kadaj stumbled, regained his balance.

"Watch your tongue, you insolent brat." Sephiroth was standing over him again, watching him. "It seems as if your little tryst a year ago with that human, has left you with some nasty habits."

"You don't know what you're talking about." Kadaj said, but this time Sephiroth pushed him to the floor, very much like a schoolyard bully. Kadaj didn't see it coming and he hit the ground with a smack of his head. His vision blurred and tried to come back into focus.

"That Kisaragi girl...hm princess Kisaragi right? She was but a child when I met her-"

"You-" Sephiroth kicked him in the side.

"Yes, I met her. And she was always a thieving little vermin. Now it seems as if you've acquired sticky fingers of your own." Kadaj glared up at him and tried to speak, but Sephiroth lifted his foot to sit on his chest. He pushed down. "Give the materia back."

"...Materia?" Kadaj wheezed.

"You still don't remember?" Sephiroth frowned. "Well let me jog your memory." Sephiroth bent down to pick him up by his shirt and all he could think about was Yazoo and Loz. He thought about how he'd treated them. He thought about Yazoo's blood on his hands that one night. He thought about the softness in Loz's eyes. He thought about how the both of them took his abuse so well. And he realized just how much like Sephiroth he really was. And he hated it.

But one thing was for sure. He wasn't Yazoo and he wasn't Loz and certainly not just a foolish boy with a ghost in his head anymore. And so he did something he'd only ever done in his dreams. He struck back.

Yuffie sat on the barstool, glaring at the door two of her supposed friends were standing behind. She really couldn't believe the nerve of them. After all they'd been through together and they were still treating her like a child. _Go wait inside the bar Yuffie. It's too dangerous Yuffie._

_You shouldn't involve yourself Yuffie._

Yeah, well she'd involved herself the very day she went chasing after that stolen materia. And now she sat inside the bar, waiting for the menfolk to finish their oh so important discussion outside. They were probably still trying to figure out how to go about finding Kadaj. Yuffie smiled. Now, if only they'd included her, maybe they'd know already.

She spun around on the stool to face the bar, her smile fading. She knew not telling them about Kadaj's whereabouts was probably not the brightest idea, but she couldn't bring herself to say anything. Not about that, and not about everything that had happened a year before. She didn't want to know what they would all think of her if they knew.

She wanted to tell them where Kadaj was, but she couldn't. At first it was because she was happier ignoring that he was back. But now she wasn't sure that was it at all. She rested her head on her arms, bored, tired and angry. _Why me? _Suddenly she spotted an ominous looking concoction in one of the cabinets. She raised her head and considered it before sliding off of the stool to go take a closer look. She noticed that the cabinet was open. _Tifa probably forgot to lock it._ she thought, taking the bottle into her hands. The liquid inside was green,_ bright_ green, and she smiled, watching the glow creep along the insides of the bottle. She glanced at the closed door, and started to unscrew the cap.

"_You can't do this."_

"_I can do as I please. I become stronger by the day, despite your efforts to impede my progress. And despite your claims to aid in Kadaj's healing, I'm afraid I've found a flaw in that plan."_

"_You...insolen-"_

"_Careful. Don't you want to know what the flaw is?"_

"_There is no flaw."_

"_Wrong again. I have decided not to kill Kadaj. Instead, I will keep him at a close range and make sure your help is useless."_

"_You can't-"_

"_My, when will you learn? I can, and will. I'm finding that he is indeed healing more quickly than I would've thought. However, I can make sure he never fully heals, and is never strong enough to hear you. By the time I allow him to heal, I would've expelled you already."_

"_And how do you plan on doing that?"_

"_Surely, you can guess."_

Kadaj hit the ground, listening as his sword slid across the floor. He picked himself up as fast as he could, retrieved his sword and got into the best stance he could hold.

Sephiroth brought his sword out, and slashed the air. Kadaj tried to ignore his reopened wounds and the pain in his face. He saw Sephiroth about to step foward for a deep strike and moved out of the way a split second before Masamune could slice through his shoulder. He knew who had the advantage in their allotted space. Sephiroth was taller, faster and stronger. He had more reach, more everything. Kadaj only saw one option, and that was to get up close.

Overconfidence ever his downfall, Sephiroth wasn't quite ready for Kadaj to charge directly into his space and attack. Souba just missed his stomach and he slid back, not at all liking the close call or the laughter in Kadaj's eyes.

"Don't thi-" Kadaj cut him off guard with a swipe to his ankles and suddenly round to his hamstrings, the result was Sephiroth turning round in a circle with nothing in his sights. The hilt of Kadaj sword hit him near his lower spine and he stumbled. Kadaj quickly tried to moved away from him, but Sephiroth gripped his shoulder and threw him into the fridge.

"You think you can make a fool of me?" Kadaj's smile was bloody.

"Absolutely."

"This isn't so bad..." Yuffie continued to drink a from the bottle, smacking her lips and swishing the liquid around in the bottle. She took another sip, nothing. Well, maybe she just had that famous Wutain tolerance. Cloud and Vincent were just...big...dumdum heads. Too dangerous her butt! She wasn't a little girl. She took another sip. Yeah, a little girl couldn't handle alcohol quite like...whoa.

Yuffie put the bottle down, feeling her world suddenly start to spin around her. She tried to put the cap back on but it wouldn't go on. No matter how many times she tried, her fingers would just slip off. Finally after a fair amount of her world spinning and cursing she got the top back on and the bottle back in the cabinet.

"Yuffie?" _Shit._ That was Tifa's voice wasn't it? Wow...Tifa's voice was really musical like...Yuffie got up and tried to run to the stool to make like she hadn't been drinking, but she landed on her face instead. She felt the vibrations of Tifa's footsteps coming fast towards her. The footfalls went from her belly to her spine, to her head. Tifa was holding her shoulders and saying something to her.

"Huh?" Tifa frowned. "Your hair is so shiny...hey...stop screamin' at me."

"Yuffie? Oh no..Yuffie..."

"Wow, do you see that? Everything's movin', the walls are dancin' Teef.."

"Tell me you didn't drink the Ab-"

"Hey, Tifa...hey Tifa...I lied about the keys. I'm sorry. Vincent...sorry...they're in Kadaj's closet..."

"I think you're a little confused..."

"No...damn it...I'm not. I...he...we...you should see him naked...no justice..I'm tellin' you..." Tifa helped Yuffie up from the floor.

"What was the color of the drink?"

"Huh?"

"What was the color of the drink Yuffie?"

"I...huh? Green...his eyes are green...kinda blue too...oh god...why isn't he dead?"

"Green?"

"Yeah...I'm sorry I lied...didn't tell...I lied about the keys...didn't mean to..." Tifa looked her in the eye and Yuffie didn't remember her eyes ever being that brown.

"Then why did you?" Tifa was really starting to worry about Yuffie, the strange bruises and behavior, the lies, now this.

"Because...because...I like him."

"You like him?" Yuffie nodded.

"Need...bathroom...now." Yuffie wondered if her face was as green as the absinthe. The thought had her laughing through her nausea.

Sephiroth held Kadaj to the wall with only his weight. Kadaj struggled, but he was just too strong, just too heavy. Souba was still clenched in his hand, but in his position the sword was no good.

"Pathetic." Sephiroth's hand moved to his chest and Kadaj wondered what he was trying to do. He could feel Sephiroth shaking with laughter. "You may have gotten a few lucky hits, but that's all they were." Kadaj felt his fingers creeping nearer to the main wound above his heart. The one he's gotten during his rebirth from the lifestream. He didn't understand what was happening until Sephiroth's fingers wrapped around his neck. They were like strong unbreakable cords.

"Not healing so well now are you?" Kadaj choked, tried to keep a level head and keep breathing as well as he could. But he couldn't, but somewhere in between his vision going black and struggling for air he got his arm up and _thrust._ Sephiroth made a choked noise and coughed blood onto his shoulder. Kadaj pushed his own body back and both he and Sephiroth toppled to the floor. Sephiroth made a grab for him but he rolled away, took his sword out of his stomach and in the process ripped his clothes.

What he saw made his jaw drop.

Tifa listened to Yuffie retch in the bathroom, standing close by just in case. The ninja had refused her offer to hold her hair back, but she couldn't just leave her. Tifa wondered how long she'd been down there drinking, wondered why she'd done it. She just plain _wondered_ about Yuffie.

Tifa realized that she had let time get away from her thinking, and when she came to she realized all was quiet. Too quiet. Tifa knocked on the door.

"Yuffie?" no answer. She put her ear to the door and could hear mumbling, but that was pretty much it. Tifa took a breath and stepped in.

"Oh my God." Tifa covered her mouth, watching as a lock of black hair floated to the large pile already on the bathroom floor. She rushed forward and wrestled the scissors from Yuffie's hands. "What are you doing!" Yuffie staggered.

"Haircut!" she giggled, looking a bit wild eyed. Tifa was horrified. She should've never let that girl be alone in the state that she was. "Do you like it?" Tifa sighed.

"I...it's...different." Yuffie nodded.

"He said... looked better short." Yuffie tried to steady herself, tried not to look into the bright light above her head.

"Who?" Tifa said tiredly.

"An asshole." Tifa snorted and looked at Yuffie again. Well, it was definitely shorter. Yuffie had grown her hair out to her shoulders and now it was right above her ears, some pieces were shorter than others, cut slanted, cut straight, it wasn't_ so _bad. Tifa smiled, it looked almost spiky...kinda wild. Hair to match the look in her eye. Tifa watched Yuffie, who seemed to have calmed down some.

Yuffie now watched herself in the mirror, mouth frowning, eyes tired. She looked at herself one last time and looked at Tifa.

"Oops_._" Tifa nodded.

Sephiroth was quick to get up and cover himself but Kadaj had seen already. You didn't have to be a doctor to figure it out. Sephiroth was hurt, badly. The scars had been deep and numerous, long jagged marks criss crossing his torso. Kadaj remembered Cloud's final attack a year ago. With a start Kadaj realized that Sephiroth hadn't been shaking with laughter, he'd just been shaking. He realized why he'd been able to strike Sephiroth when he'd never been able to in his own head. He remembered the medicinal smell and...

"That materia that I supposedly stole wouldn't happen to be cure would it?" He could tell by the man's eyes that he was dead on. He smiled. He'd never seen Sephiroth look so angry.

And understandably so, a man with so much pride probably couldn't stand that his vulnerability had been revealed, his weakness.

Kadaj smiled and Sephiroth advanced on him.

"Now who's pathetic?" he saw Sephiroth reach out and his world went black. Kadaj was still smiling.

At around midnight, Yuffie also found herself waking up, with one whopper of a headache. She poked her head out of her cocoon of covers and looked around, she was still in the bar. It seemed she had been sleeping on a couch as well. Everything was still spinning a bit, she was slightly nauseous, and her head was pounding, but overall things were not so bad.

"You up?" Did Tifa have to scream?

"Yeah..." Yuffie said in a voice that didn't sound like her own. Tifa set a cup down on the coffee table.

"Tea." Yuffie's stomach gurgled.

"Oh god...I'll never drink anything ever again."

"I've known the feeling." Tifa leaned back in her chair. "Do you want to talk?"

"Not really, no." Yuffie said into a pillow. "Hey, why're you still up?...ow."

"I thought I'd keep an eye on you, and...Cloud hasn't come home yet." Yuffie squinted. Well, that's strange. She thought they'd just talk about finding Kadaj. Not actually try going out and doing it.

"He's probably out with Vincent." Tifa blinked.

"Oh? Did he say when he'd be back?"

"No." Yuffie sighed as her stomach calmed down. Tifa smiled.

"So...do you wanna talk about it?"

"What?"

"Your drunken confessions." Yuffie's heart sank and her mind raced as she tried to remember what she could have possibly said. Tifa laughed quietly. "Relax, you didn't say anything too horrible."

"I...didn't?"

"No, you were mostly very confused and said some strange things...but there's one thing I did catch onto. You know, I've been a bit worried about you. I don't really know what to think sometimes."

"Oh."

"Listen, you can talk to me about anything, I promise I'll listen." Yuffie nodded. And Tifa got a knowing look in her eye. "Which brings me to something else. You like Vincent don't you?" Yuffie's eyes flew open, and she was instantly sorry. She closed them tight again.

"How much did I drink..."

"Not much really. You're just" Tifa laughed. "a bit of a lightweight. Although, not much of absinthe is quite enough. So...Vincent."

"I...I...um about Vincent...he's like..." Tifa raised an eyebrow.

"Well, you said you lied about the keys because you liked him. I assumed it was Vincent, you were talking about. That's pretty clever, saying you lost your keys just to spend time with him."

"We didn't do anything, I just slept with him...I mean...in his apartment." Tifa waved her hand.

"I know you didn't. But you know you don't have to lie to get closer to him." Yuffie blinked. Yeah, she'd had a huge thing for him a while ago and sure, it had never truly died, but she hadn't meant that she liked _him._ Wait a minute, she'd said she'd liked _Kadaj?_ Surely not. God, what else had she said? But then again, when an alibi so willingly presented itself she was going to roll with it.

"I...you don't think it's weird?"

"I think you're old enough to make your own decisions. Does it really matter what I think? I mean, just as long as you're with a good man I'll support you."

"So...if he was kind of dangerous...that'd be bad?"

"Vincent would never hurt you."

"But just in general...let's say a guy has tried to kill me on many different occasions and kind of hates me." Tifa was silent.

"...that's probably bad."

"But what if he's a good kisser...I mean like a _great_ kisser."

"I'm going to say that's still pretty bad." Tifa gave her strange look. "Vincent's tried to kil-"

"No! It was just a general question."

"Hm." Tifa took a sip of the tea. Okay, there was definitely something strange going on.

It was now that Cloud and Vincent decided to grace them all with their presences. Yuffie pulled the cover over her head, and tried to be invisible. Cloud and Vincent sat in the chairs next to Tifa.

"Where were you?" Tifa looked at Cloud, and he sighed, tiredly.

"There was just some business we needed to take care of." Tifa got the feeling there was something _very_ strange going on. But she decided not to pry. Maybe another day, she'd get Cloud alone and grill him. She smiled.

She looked over to see that Vincent was staring at the bundle of covers that was Yuffie.

"Um...she just had a rough night. She's feeling a bit sick." Tifa covered for her. Yuffie moaned. "Very sick." Cloud had such a look on his face that he didn't even have to say 'what now?' Suddenly the blob of blankets got up and ran up stairs. Both men looked at Tifa.

"Nauseous."

"_Are you happy with yourself Sephiroth?" There was no answer. "I know you can hear me." no answer again. "So, in the process of undoing all of the work nature and I put into Kadaj's healing, you've hurt yourself. Brilliant. You have only set yourself back. Kadaj on the other hand will continue to heal with my help and you...well, with my intervention you won't be healing quite as fast. It seems as if there is a flaw in your plan. In fact, I think it might just be falling apart."_

When the pile of covers returned from the bathroom, everyone's eyes raised. It sat down on the couch and suddenly Yuffie's bloodshot eyes appeared, then her mouth.

"There's nothing I can do to..." she wavered and looked like she would fall over for a second, but she righted herself. "I can't fix it. And you'll eventually see it so..."Yuffie dropped the covers from her head.

"_Shit."_ Tifa hit Cloud and he tried to tear his eyes away. "I'm sorry, I just...wow." Tifa winced as she saw the haircut was suddenly smiling, and Tifa was sure she'd never seen such a look of surprise on Vincent's face. Tifa hit Cloud again when it looked as though he might laugh, though she wore a suspicious smile of her own.

"Go ahead and laugh" Yuffie wobbled again and steadied herself. "I look like someone cast Thundaga on my head..." Clould snorted.

"Yeah, you do." Tifa hit him again. He shrugged.

"She said it.." he said, trying not to laugh. Yuffie narrowed her eyes.

"Yeah, well you're one to talk!" Yuffie immediately regretted her loudness. She covered her ringing ears and tried not to look at Vincent. So _embarrassing._Cloud looked serious again.

"My hair doesn't look like that." Vincent intervened.

"Why...would you-"

"You told her you didn't like her hair long." Tifa glared and Yuffie's eyes widened. Vincent raised an eyebrow.

"I did?"

"Tifa, I didn't mean _him_."

"Well, who-" Yuffie coughed.

"No one." Silence descended.

"I think it's time I go home." Vincent said. Yuffie didn't at all like the look on Tifa's face.

"Vincent, do you think that on your way you could walk Yuffie to the drug store for some medicine?" Yuffie's mouth fell open.

"I don't nee-"

"Nonsense, do you just want to suffer? Actually , since you'll both be out there, and you live pretty close together, do you think you can walk her home?" Yuffie wanted go over and put a hand over the woman's mouth. What was she trying to do? Vincent didn't seem to mind, but Yuffie knew a perceptive man like him had to see what Tifa was trying to do. She wondered how red her face was.

"Do you have your keys?" Vincent asked.

"No-"

"Wait a minute, I think I have them..." Tifa pulled keys out of her pocket. She tossed them to Yuffie, who was completely dumbfounded. "I totally forgot you gave them to me." Yuffie looked down on the blurry shape of her keys.

"How...?"

"Just go. And get some rest."

Yuffie was only halfway to the store when she nearly collapsed on the concrete. She had been wobbling bigtime, but overall she'd been able to keep a shred of her dignity. She was waiting for the pain, but it never came. She felt Vincent wrap his arm around her waist and pull her back up.

His arm was surprisingly soft against her head and his hand strong on her hip. She could feel the blush creeping, and her embarrassment was at an all time high. When they reached the store, He just propped Yuffie up near the counter and went to get something.

"What can I get for you." A man said from behind the counter. Very drowsy, Yuffie turned slowly and experienced some crazy deja vu.

"Yazoo!" The man's bluish green eyes, seemed to change.

"What?" Yuffie squinted in order to get a better picture. The hair was a washed out shade of brown and pulled into a ponytail, but otherwise the face was unmistakably Yazoo.

"You're Yazoo, Yazoo...how..." The man frowned.

"I'm afraid your mistaken."

"No. You're Yazoo...you _are_."

"No. I'm not." he looked suddenly angry.

"Vincent!" she screamed. But when she turned around the man was gone. Vincent was by her side immediately.

"I saw...he was...Vincent.." God, what the hell? That _had_ been Yazoo. Another man, rung in their items.

Finally, they reached their apartments. Yuffie just wanted to be hungover alone. She put the paper bag down and took out her keys, tried them in the lock.

"Oh my god." She really wanted to cry. Vincent, stood by watching. Yuffie punched her door and nearly knocked herself over. Tifa gave her the wrong keys. The wrong keys. She should've _known._ How had she been so gullible? Tifa ever the matchmaker. Yuffie turned to Vincent. He nodded.

"I'm so sorry." she plopped down on his couch, her head in her hands.

"It's fine." he said, setting a grapefruit and glass of water on the table. He sat on the other side of the couch and crossed his legs.

"What's this?"

"A bit of a hangover remedy." Yuffie buried her face in her hands again.

"That obvious?" he was silent. "I'm sorry for everything."

"I know." he took out a blade from his pocket and cut the grapefruit. "Here." Yuffie took it.

"How do you know this'll work?" he smiled. Yuffie wasn't sure if she was seeing things but did Vincent have...dimples?

"Personal experience." Yuffie sucked on the grapefruit.

"Really?"

"Really." Yuffie looked him in the eye.

"I don't think I'll ever drink again. Something bad always happens." she motioned to her hair.

"Something much worse could've happened."

"I know, I just..." he watched her. "I...really don't have anything to say for myself." she giggled as her lingering high continued to make things hilarious for no reason at all. "Sorry."

He considered her, eyes dark. Yuffie was a bit disconcerted under his gaze. "Do you carry that knife around with you all the time?" He looked as if he might smile again.

"Old habits."

"Oh. Well, your old habits really..." she hiccupped. "are awesome." she held up her grapefruit piece. "I think I'm feeling better already." she looked at her hands. "Um...yeah I just kind of...wanted to say that you...um...thanks. Thanks." She listened as he drummed his fingers on the back of the couch behind her head.

"Of course." She giggled.

"_Of course." _she mimicked him. "I always liked the way you talked." She gasped dramatically, not meaning to have said that. "Hey, how come you're being so nice to me?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Do I have a reason not to be?"

"I just...kinda thought you didn't like me." she didn't mean to say that either.

"Whether I like you or not, I suppose I'd consider you a friend." there was some humor in his words. "And..." his tone got serious. "If a friend needs help, then I'll be around. You certainly were, even if I might not have wanted your help at the time." Yuffie felt a bit drowsy.

"Then...you'll need to be around okay?" Vincent got that look that made her feel transparent again. Yuffie met his gaze sleepily, finding she didn't much care that she had nearly just asked him for help. That she had let more slip.

"Alright."

She felt herself drifting off to sleep, still holding on to the lingering high and secrets that were getting increasingly harder to keep.

Early morning came with a cheerful red sun and Yuffie was feeling a great deal better, but still pretty much like crap. She found that Vincent wasn't even there, and took her leave immediately.

"Do you think I can take a shower?" Yuffie asked Tifa over the bar.

"Sure."

"Because, you know, you gave me the _wrong _keys." Tifa turned to get some new glasses.

"Did I?"

"Yes, you did." Yuffie glared. "And you did it on purpose."

"I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about." Yuffie pointed her finger.

"You are not funny."

"I think I'm hilarious." Tifa turned to face Yuffie. "You can just get some clothes from my dresser."

After her shower, Yuffie was quick to leave. She had things to do. Everything started spinning now and then, but finding Kadaj's house was a piece of cake. She took a breath. Smoothed her shirt and shorts, and felt silly when she caught herself doing it. She climbed the tree and pushed the window up with her palms sliding inside quietly.

Luckily, there was no one in the room, and Yuffie was free to wander. She had to find him and find out what was up. She made sure to be quiet as she made her way around the house, looking for a certain glimpse of silver. Suddenly she felt something take a hold of her arm, cover her mouth and pick her up.

"Don't struggle if you want to live." There was a note in his voice that made her comply.

She suddenly found herself in a bathroom, Kadaj standing angrily before her.

"What's the big idea!" she said once his hand was off of her mouth. At her exclamation, Kadaj's hand was over her mouth again. He spoke quietly.

"_Damn it_, shut up. Do you _want_ to die? He'll hear you." Kadaj looked at her. "Why are even you here?" he took his hand off slowly.

"So what if Loz hears me?" Kadaj rolled his eyes. He'd told her it was Loz living with him hadn't he? She was just lucky Sephiroth wasn't in the best condition. He smiled.

"Why are you _here_?" he asked again, glaring.

"Since you won't kill me, I can do what I want." Kadaj ground his teeth. "I'm not in any danger." Kadaj swabbed one of his many wounds with a cotton ball doused with alcohol, he hissed.

"That doesn't mean I'm your goddamned best friend. Get out of my house, before I throw you out." Yuffie just suddenly realized his shirtless state, and how messed up he looked.

"I didn't come here for you. I need to talk to Yazoo." Yuffie _felt_ the mood shift. Kadaj turned on her, looking as if she'd made fun of his mother...again. His eyes darkened as he approached her.

"You're not going to find him here. Get out." Yuffie backed up despite herself.

"Just tell me where he is then." Kadaj started shaking.

"Get. Out."

"I know he's around, I saw him last night." Kadaj looked as if he'd been slapped.

"...you're _lying_. Get out. ...Get out!" Despite all she knew Yuffie was scared for her life.

"Fine, I'll leave. But I _did_ see him."

Yuffie made her way through the wooded area, mumbling angrily. Either Kadaj was putting on a very convincing performance and just didn't want her to see Yazoo, or he really had no idea Yazoo was alive. Yuffie didn't know what to think, but either way she was going to get to the bottom of it. She was almost out of the area when she heard a voice.

"You really saw him?" his voice cut through the already warm late morning air. She turned around to see Kadaj looking back at her. Yuffie nodded.

"I'm going to the pharmacy. He was working there last night." Kadaj frowned and came to walk by her side. She just hoped Yazoo would be there, she hoped it really had been him.

"_If your going to continue to ruin his progress and you clearly don't desire his presence, why haven't you simply killed him?"_

"_I've found another purpose for him."_

"_What would that be?"_

"_That's my business."_

"_Would it have anything to do with your search for Yazoo and Loz?"_

"_It might."_

The walk to the pharmacy was a surprisingly quiet one. And extremely awkward. She didn't really want to talk to him, considering their history, her confusing feelings and the fact that he just plain got on her nerves with his jerkiness. He didn't want to talk to her because the very thought of his attraction to her made him sick, made him angry and just _confused._

And then there was Yazoo, had she really seen him? Part of him wanted to see his older brother, but another part of him didn't. He hadn't been a competent leader, and because of that none of them had ended up with mother. He wondered if Yazoo and Loz were angry with him. He wondered if they would want to see _him._

Something about that had him feeling like he was suddenly on the other side of the spectrum. Yuffie decided to break the silence.

" What happened to you?" Kadaj glanced at her out of the corner of his eye.

"I had a bit of a disagreement." he tried to ignore the pain around his eye. "what's your excuse?" It took Yuffie a second to figure out what he was talking about.

"I...had a bit of a disagreement too." he scoffed.

"With a pair of scissors?" Yuffie frowned. Very funny.

" It doesn't look so bad." She didn't mention that it was indirectly his fault.

"I looks like someone cast Thundaga on your head." Yuffie was not amused.

"I'm trying to be civil."

"I'd rather you be quiet." Yuffie glared at him.

"Fine."

They were nearly at the pharmacy when a restaurant caught Yuffie's eye. Her stomach gurgled and so did Kadaj's. Kadaj went in without so much as a word to her. She was a bit surprised considering the mission. Didn't he want to find Yazoo as soon as possible?

The restaurant was a bit dark and kind of fancy. She wondered if he had the money to pay for it.

She found him sitting in a booth and looking out of the window. She sat across from him and drummed her fingers.

"What're you looking at?" He looked at her.

"I thought you were going to be quiet." he said. She sighed and sat back, trying not to jump him in the nice restaurant.

"How may I help you today?" a pretty waitress appeared, smiling.

"You could start by getting us some damn menus."

"_Kadaj._" Yuffie said through gritted teeth. The woman's smile faltered and she moved away to get on it, fear in her eyes. He sighed.

"What is it?"

"That was rude." The stupidity of her claim hit her right after she said it. This was Kadaj she was talking to. Of course he was going to be rude.

"And?"

"And...you can't afford to make yourself standout like that, especially since you didn't bring a hat."

"I don't think I'm the one who needs a hat." he smiled and Yuffie ignored the slight.

"Really, silver?" Realization dawned on him and he frowned.

"What makes you think you can tell m-"

"Here you are." The waitress shakily placed two menus on the table.

"Thanks." Yuffie said, trying to make up for Kadaj.

While they made up their minds the sun really started to shine. It would've been a nice summer day if she hadn't-

"Are you ready to order?" the small pad was shaking in her hands. They placed their orders and they both watched the waitress nearly run to the back.

"What's her problem?"

"You scare the living daylights out of her that's what." Yuffie played with the saltshaker.

"How about you?"

"What about me?"

"Do I scare you as well?" the sun made his eyes a liquid bluish green. She put down the shaker.

"Not really. Sometimes I guess."

"Why?" he continued to frown, but seemed genuinely interested in her answer. She couldn't look at him, but somehow she knew he was looking at her.

"Because...I don't know. At first it was because you had my materia and it didn't matter to me who you were, I just...I don't know you made me so mad I didn't think about being scared. Vincent says a little bit of fear is a good thing to have though..."

"Hm." The name sounded so familiar to him. "He's one of your weak little teammates isn't he?" Yuffie glared.

"He's not _weak._ He's strong and smart and..."

"What is he, your boyfriend?" Kadaj laughed.

"Maybe he is." his smile dropped. "That's right, my boyfriend."

"Yeah, right." he said, frowning. So what if she had a boyfriend, he didn't care.

"You think I'm lying?"

"What man in his right mind would-"

"Want me? You certainly did." Kadaj could've glared a hole in the wall.

"No, I didn't."

"I was _there_ Kadaj."

"Obviously not because I never-"

"Here sir, ma'am." The waitress put their plates down. Kadaj looked at his plate and Yuffie began to dig in.

"This isn't what I asked for."

"Sir?" the waitress's lips began to tremble.

"I asked for the turkey sandwich and fries. Not whatever the hell this is. Was that too hard for you to understand?" Yuffie put her fork down.

"Kadaj." the waitress's eyes started getting glassy.

"Be quiet, I'm talking to her. You. Danielle is it? Take this back and get me the right thing." The waitress took the plate and went away, barely concealing her tears. " The incompetence around here in astounding." Yuffie wanted to smack him.

"Are you kidding me? Just because you're mad that I'm unavailable doesn't mean you can take it out on her." Yuffie bit into her waffle. "You made her cry."

"What makes you think that I-"

"Sir?" the plate trembled in her hands.

"Thankyou." he said curtly. Danielle left quickly and they didn't continue the conversation.

Yuffie watched as lights were strung up everywhere, balloons tied here and there. The streets were already staring to fill with smiling people. She saw Kadaj looking and explained.

"It's a celebration. It's always on the summer solstice. They have music and games and stuff. I kind of like the firecrackers." Yuffie ate her last peace of waffle. "It's when all of Edge celebrates life. Vincent told me that." Yuffie finished. Kadaj frowned and said nothing in return, but truly wondered what reason there was to celebrate life.

When it came time to pay, Kadaj looked at Yuffie expectantly and Yuffie returned the look.

"You're kidding me..."

"You don't have any money?" Kadaj asked. Yuffie buried her face in her hands.

"I can't _believe_ you."

"Me?" Kadaj looked around, and they were silent for a while.

"What're we–ooo!" she was suddenly snatched out of her seat when Kadaj grabbed her hand and pulled her across the restaurant and out into the street. They ran for a time after that, listening as the yells of the maitre-d faded. They stopped in an alley.

"Oh my god." Yuffie giggled. "I can't believe we just did that!" Yuffie looked over to Kadaj, who was looking at her bemused. "Not that I agree with what we did." she said quickly.

"Right." It was at that moment that they realized they were still holding hands. They both withdrew awkwardly. Yuffie tried to calm the butterflies down.

"Um, okaaay...the pharmacy is this way."

By the time they reached the pharmacy it was late afternoon. Unfortunately the man of the hour wasn't around.

"Sorry, he's not working here today." Kadaj glared at Yuffie.

"What do you mean _today?_"

"He has long brown hair and bluish green eyes?"

"Yeah."

"Well, he also works over at the garage some blocks away. He's not in trouble is he?"

"No, he's just a...close friend of mine." Kadaj scoffed.

They both left the pharmacy a bit deflated.

"I can't believe he wasn't there." Kadaj stopped.

"Long _brown_ hair?" Yuffie shook her head.

"It was totally dyed."

"Right, you didn't happen to see his face did you?"

"Of course I saw his face. You think I'd just say it was Yazoo based on the back of someone's frickin' head?"

"Well, I'd hope not."

By the time they got to the garage, the sun was low in the sky. Again, no Yazoo.

"Long brown hair and bluish green eyes you say?"

"Yes." Yuffie said tiredly.

"Well, he sometimes works at the bodega across town." Kadaj was really starting to doubt she had seen him at all, but they went to the place anyway. They got the same story.

"I think that you were lying."

"I'm not lying!" The shopkeeper looked very nervous.

"Then explain to me why he hasn't been anywhere you've dragged us to."

"I don't know, I just-"

"I think you did this on purpose." the look in his eye was dangerous.

"Hey, you may be a major asshole, but I wouldn't...I mean not on purpose...I was a bit hung over but...I know his face!" Kadaj was suddenly quiet. He began to advance on her.

"You mean to tell me, that you saw him when you were drunk?" She started to doubt herself.

"I..."

"You..." he was shaking, he was so angry. He should've never believed her. Of course Yazoo wasn't alive, because that's the way things always went for him. Suddenly his eyes got wide and his expression softened. He was looking at something out of the window and Yuffie turned to see what was up.

There he was. Brown hair and all, but unmistakably Yazoo. Yuffie watched as he disappeared into the crowd. She could hear music starting up. It always got louder at twilight.

Kadaj ran out and she followed closely at his heels, but as they moved deeper into the crowd, darkness started to flood the sky. It seemed as if they had caught the very last minutes of twilight.

But there was no mistaking Kadaj's head of silver hair and Yuffie followed close.

"Yuffie?" Yuffie spun around.

"Tifa?" Yuffie looked behind her, damn. Kadaj was gone.

"I didn't know you'd be here." the older woman pulled her over to a game. "Try this one, it's pretty fun." She noticed Yuffie looking all around her. "You looking for someone?"

"No."

Kadaj noticed Yuffie's absence, but went on. What was Yazoo doing? Had he been trying to find him? Where was he living? Maybe he was with Loz! Kadaj pushed through the crowd and tried to gain sight of Yazoo again.

"So, are you feeling better today?" Yuffie nodded and threw a ring. It didn't land around any of the bottle necks.

"Vincent gave me a remedy." Tifa smiled.

"So, are you two..."

"Tifa."

"Fine, I won't pry. I'll just ask Vincent. He's somewhere around here." Yuffie dropped her ring.

"He is?" Oh no.

"Yeah, he and Cloud took off somewhere." she shrugged. "Their thick as thieves nowadays." Double oh no. Yuffie knew what they were up to. And Kadaj was unsuspecting. What if they found him? When Tifa turned around Yuffie was gone.

Kadaj wasn't that hard to find and that made Yuffie worry even more. She found him around the candied apples and popcorn.

"What?" he asked, looking a bit stressed.

"Cloud, Vincent and Tifa are here." Kadaj caught on fast.

"I still have to find Yazoo."

"_Kadaj."_ he rolled his eyes and grabbed her hand. "Where are we going?!"

"He went this way." she shook her head, but allowed him to pull her.

"Didn't you hear me?"

"We aren't going to get anything done just standing there." He pulled her this and that way and finally Yuffie stopped them both in the middle of a large crowd. She tried to catch her breath and he was also looking around rather breathlessly. She stood up and faced him.

"Listen, you have to go now. Yazoo will be alright, his hair his brown. He won't be easy to find."

"I'm going to find him."

"You're going to get caught. I found you so easily."

"It's not up for debate." he snapped.

"You're being stupid."

"Why do you _care_?" The first pop of the firecrackers went off. A green and red dragon in the sky. Kadaj watched her.

"I...don't." A purple firecracker spread across the dark sky. He was still watching her. The shape of his face was cast in shadows as the firecracker faded, his eyes glowing green out of the shadowed spaces where his eyes were supposed to be. There was a new burst of yellow light across the sky and as his face was illuminated again she realized how close he was. His face became shadowed again and just like that she felt his lips descend on hers in a soft, rather chaste kiss. She didn't even know Kadaj could _do_ gentle. He spoke against her mouth.

"Then, stop standing in my way." He moved away from her and into the crowd without another word, and Yuffie couldn't find the words to stop him. Bewildered, she touched her fingers to her lips.

"Yuffie?" she turned around to meet the inquiring eyes of...


	17. Downhill Effect

"_I see your healing rather slowly, son." the was a dry, cacophonous laugh that seemed to grate the insides of his skull._

"_Let me alone." Jenova laughed again._

"_Dear Sephiroth, until you are strong enough to remove me yourself, I'm afraid I won't be going anywhere. You may be able to block me from Kadaj's mind, but you and I...we're so much more deeply intertwined."_

"_Unfortunately." _

"_Tell me, are you so adverse to sharing my affections?"_

"_Your...affections? Is that what you're calling it?" Sephiroth almost laughed. "Kadaj is clearly uncertain he wants you to return to him in the first place. Besides, I can't have you reaching him and putting things in his head." The youngest remnant remained such an incredible fool yearning for a mother's love. He couldn't risk Jenova steering him in the wrong direction._

"_You just don't want me warning him. You can't hide anything from me, most especially your apprehensions. And I think you know as well as I do, that as of the recent turn of events Kadaj is a threat." Sephiroth scowled._

"_A threat to whom? Certainly not me."_

"_Oh? Is that why you've enclosed yourself in this room?"_

"_I am not-"_

"_Is that why you became so angry over those little scraps of cure materia?"_

"_You-"_

"_Know something child, even materia won't put you on par with Kadaj's healing. No matter how many times you injure him and undo his recuperation he'll still heal faster. I'll make sure of it. I can stunt your healing and I can expedite his. Now if you only submit to me, I could do the same for you." Sephiroth made use of his last materia, feeling the warmth spread to each limb. The green glow lingered on his skin only seconds before it was gone._

"_I already know well enough the results of your intervention. Your presence has only hindered me, I will not make the same mistake. Once I rid myself of you, this planet will fall right into my hands." Sephiroth sat up, not without resistance from his badly injured body. "And if Kadaj was any kind of a threat, I would not have spared his life."_

"_You didn't spare anything Sephiroth. How many times do I have to tell you that you can not hide anything from me? You've had ample chance to kill the boy, but he still lives. That is because for some reason, you need him alive now. Because if I remember correctly, you tried to dispose of him in the lifestream, before he was reborn, and you failed." Sephiroth was silent. Jenova laughed. "Yes, I was there with you. Even then. And as it turns out your opportunity to kill him has passed as well. He was weak when you first brought him here and you were stronger, if only by a small margin. Not anymore though, and he knows it. He's seen the shape you're in. And the more he heals the greater my chance of reaching him. You won't be able to block me from him anymore."_

"_That is what you think."_

"_No. I know. I feel his thoughts, his turmoil at this very second. Soon I will enter them and speak with him."_

"_He isn't even sure he wants that. You betrayed him, and he will never forget it. His trust and devotion will never again be so pure."_

"_Maybe, but what do you think he'll do once I tell him what you're trying to do to me? After promising him a connection with me? He will-"_

"_You'll never get the chance. Besides as we speak, I'm nearly certain your favorite little remnant is doing all of my work for me."_

Yuffie spun around, her heart in her throat.

"That wasn't what it looked like!" she said, too late realizing how suspicious that sounded. The little girl stood open mouthed, big brown eyes wide.

"That was..."

"Nobody. I was just-"

"That was Kadaj!" Yuffie clenched her teeth and ushered Marlene over to the side of a food cart. If possible the crowd seemed to be thickening, as well as the air around them, heavy with the new summer heat, the great commotion of celebration and the sheer amount of bodies in one space. Yuffie had no idea there were so many people in Edge. Or it could've been just her, now suddenly feeling a bit cornered. And by a little girl no less.

"You know, it's really hot out here, maybe you're just seeing things, the heat does that sometimes." Marlene shook her head slowly.

"I remember him." An elaborately patterned confection seemed to just appear in the ninja's hands, and the man selling the treats in the cart behind them didn't seem to notice. She pushed the powdered fried dough towards the girl. "You stole that." Marlene said, eying the treat.

"Yes. Yes I did."

"We have to tell Cloud that they're back!" she said, balling her tiny fists. Yuffie waved her arms in front of her face.

"Wait no! I mean...wouldn't you rather eat this sweet, tasty treat?" Marlene blinked.

"You _stole_ it."

"Yes, we've been over that." Yuffie held out the treat for her, too panicked to even think about that. Marlene bit her lip, and finally shook her head.

"No, that's okay." She poked Yuffie's leg. "We have to go tell Cloud."

"No we don't." Yuffie said desperately, her plans to distract the girl clearly failing.

"Cloud will know what to do. Something bad could happen."

"Nothing bad is gonna happen, it probably wasn't even him, I told you it's hot, you could've just seen..." Marlene propped her hands up on her hips and in that moment Yuffie could've sworn she'd seen a flash of the departed flowergirl. Spooky.

"I saw him." Yuffie's stomach dropped. "Before when he was here, Denzel got really strange, all of them did. They were already sick because of the stigma, but he told them he'd heal them and he _didn't_." She spoke with such a passion, Yuffie simply had to add that to things that made Marlene seem not her age. "Daddy told me he's dangerous, and Tifa said..." Yuffie couldn't help herself.

"What did Tifa say?"

"She said that he was just confused or something. I don't know about that, but he just made everything worse. So we have to tell Cloud, because he'll know what to do. I don't want anymore bad things to happen." Yuffie looked away from her, feeling like an ass. Marlene, only ten years old and so selfless. And what was she doing? She was running around the place, trying to cover up for someone who's very presence could mean the planet's welfare was in jeopardy.

"And...you were _kissing_." It suddenly occurred to Marlene what she had really seen and Yuffie was snapped from her thoughts. She could only shake her head, unable to verbally deny it, words lodged deep in her throat. She rasped, watching the child's shock turn into something completely unexpected. "Are you guys together?" Marlene smiled, and Yuffie knelt down to get eye level.

"Marlene..."

"You're a couple aren't you?" The smile got toothy, and at this point Marlene looked as if she'd discovered the biggest, juiciest secret. Yuffie sighed, well there was no going back now.

"No. I mean we...um...and he...I." She took a deep breath, feeling stupid for getting so tongue tied over it. "I mean sometimes he..." Yuffie tripped up again and stopped herself. She didn't know what she was saying. "No Marlene, we're not." Marlene tilted her head to the side, pigtails swinging. Yuffie coughed. "Not like I would want that _anyway_."

"But you were kissing." Yuffie bit her lip, feeling more than a little awkward.

"No we weren't." Marlene did not look convinced. "I just had some of this sugar on my face..." she held up the fried dough "and um.. he was helping me get it off."

"With his mouth." Marlene got such a look on her face that could've come from only one person. The narrowing of the eyes and tightening of the mouth had Cloud all over it. In fact that was exactly the same look Yuffie got from him when he believed she'd done or said something exceptionally stupid. Marlene finished it off with a very Barrett like crossing of her arms and Yuffie gave it up, wondering why she had to be caught in the act by the one ultra precocious kid in Edge. Honestly though, there was no way Marlene wasn't going to turn out like that. You didn't just witness two grand fights for the planet and stay a typical kid.

"Okay _fine_. We were... kissing." Yuffie rolled her eyes, feeling her cheeks becoming hot. "But not because we're a couple because we are soooo _not_."

"Then why-"

"You think I know? Marlene listen to me. I don't care how pretty a guy is you stay away from him. Because all of the pretty ones are trouble, especially the ones that wear leather." Marlene blinked. "I mean it. One day you'll be all happy and on your way to visit your friends and then boom! He'll be there in some random garbage dump, talking to his mother and you'll be like dude you took my materia and he'll all of a sudden just start slapping you around and kissing the crap out of you! And he'll be stealing your clothes and you'll drive his bike into a tree and then end up half nake-" Yuffie coughed. "Yeah. No boys. Ever." She finished awkwardly. Marlene nodded mutely, looking a bit lost.

"Good."

"So, are you guys in love?" Marlene clasped her hands and got a dreamy look in her eye. Yuffie's face dropped.

"Uh...no? Didn't you hear anything I just said?" she laughed uncomfortably. "That would be so weird! Not to mention completely out of the question, I mean he's so off his rocker...hey wait a minute, you mean you'd be okay with it? You know, if we were a couple? Totally hypothetical, because, you know, we are certainly _not_-"

"Well if you were with him, it would mean he's good now right? It means he's on our side right?" It almost shocked Yuffie, to hear such naive logic. But a precocious kid was still a kid.

"Well see, that's the thing-"

"He's still bad then? We have to tell Cl-"

"Okay, hold your horses. I don't know yet, but I'm gonna...find him and talk to him about it. We're not a couple but we do...we can...we're this... thing that I can't really explain." Marlene looked suspicious.

"Tifa said that being in love is a feeling you can never explain." Yuffie's expression fell flat.

"_Anyway_, " Yuffie started, "While I go talk to him I need you to do something for me."

"What?" Marlene still looked thrilled about her new discovery. It was as if her disapproval of the remnant had somehow vanished in the wake of the love she was so sure existed between the two teens. Which strangely enough, was very ten year old of her.

"You have to keep this whole thing a secret. Our..." Yuffie rolled her eyes "relationship is secret." Marlene smiled.

"That's so romantic!"

"Yeah sure, but seriously can you keep this a secret?"

"Yeah! But if he's gonna do something bad, we have to tell Cloud alright?" Yuffie inhaled, a shadow passing across her face.

"Okay." Marlene smiled and ran off into the crowd, most likely to find Tifa, and Yuffie slunk back to the cart, feeling a bit shaken. She caught the merchant's eye and held up her pastry. "You uh...want this back?" The man squinted at her. Looked at the wrecked pastry.

"Now why would I want that? Keep it." Yuffie shrugged and walked away. She was much farther into the crowd when she heard the merchant give a shout of realization. But no one was paying attention to him or the calls of 'thief!' so she just continued on her way. At least she had_ tried_ to right a bad deed. Besides, with the night ahead of her she was going to need the sugar.

She started in the last direction she'd seen him go, scanning the crowd for any hint of silver, wondering if they had already spotted him. It just couldn't be that hard to pick him out of a crowd, and yet as she continued to comb through the crowd with her eyes, he was absolutely no where to be found. What was worse, she could feel herself starting to panic. Well, she supposed that she could just add that to the whole goddamned list of feelings she didn't want.

She couldn't believe how much she was freaking out. So what if they caught Kadaj? The very worst thing that could happen was that everything would come out. That wasn't so bad right? But Yuffie couldn't kid herself like that for long. So many of them already thought she was incapable and irresponsible. And whether or not that were true, she knew that canoodling with the enemy wouldn't do anything to help that reputation. She was so caught up in what had happened between them, she didn't think for one second that the capture of Kadaj would probably prompt more important questions. And that most likely Kadaj wouldn't dream of admitting to what had happened between them.

So then Yuffie took another look at the whole thing. It was true her little tryst with him was one of the less concerning factors in his reappearance, so why was she panicking like this? Why in the hell was she out here in the blistering heat, with her blistering feet, going absolutely bonkers trying to get to him before any one else did?

_Why do you care?_

She thought back to his question under the fireworks, and really considered it. She thought about her answer._ I...don't._ He had caught her so off guard and she hadn't even realized...Yuffie held her forehead. She hadn't even realized that yeah, maybe she _did_ care about the bastard. And even though she knew it was stupid of her, she didn't want to see anything really terrible happen to him. Even though he pretty much deserved it. She supposed she just had to accept that she was simply a fool like that, and that Kadaj would continue to screw with everything she knew (or thought) to be true. It was something that could really get on a girl's nerves. Especially when she understood that he could probably care less about her, and most likely didn't think about that night as often as she did.

And there it was, another admission. Another slap in the face. Despite all of her claims that she was over it and that the whole thing with him didn't matter to her, she had been thinking about that night. Thinking about the things that shouldn't have happened and the things that could have. It was just another indicator that in their little relationship she'd somehow gotten the rotten side of the deal. The side with _feelings. _

Feelings for him that he didn't deserve. She didn't know why or how this was happening to her, and found herself annoyed even further when she realized that no matter what she did she couldn't seem to stop it. Sure there were times when he'd been almost decent towards her, but she was reluctant to buy into it. She was reluctant to even accept the obvious differences in him, because she knew how easily he'd switch gears and quite honestly, she never wanted to be caught between those two extremes again. So even if she was developing unwanted feelings, it was just more comfortable to assume it wasn't mutual.

Kadaj shoved his way through the crowd, leaving quite a few people on the ground in his wake.

"Hey, watch where your go-" the man seemed to visibly shrink when Kadaj turned to regard him, some random firework highlighting the supernatural traits so many had grown to fear. But before he could get a good gander of what he hoped wasn't silver or quite so strong a mako glow he was on the ground, his hat suddenly missing.

Kadaj continued on, remarkably more irritated than he already was. He pulled the front of the hat over his eyes and continued to push through the crowd, hoping no more morons would hold him up with their gawking. Kadaj was sure that if Yazoo was around, Loz couldn't be too far away.

He thought back to Yuffie standing under the fireworks, pouting like she often did.

She had been...concerned for him? It didn't make sense. Surely after everything he'd done to her and her stupid little friends, she wouldn't care a lick about him. But he couldn't get that look of hers out of his mind's eye. No, he had to be mistaken. Kadaj pushed another person rather forcefully out of the way. He wasn't a child, he didn't need to be cared for. He didn't need anyone. But even as he thought this, he realized what he was doing, pushing his way eagerly through the crowd, desperate to see his brothers. And what he was doing with Sephiroth, trying to prove himself to his mother yet again, and simply feel her presence again.

At times he found himself disgusted with how hard it was for him to deny her. A year ago he had existed for nothing but her, he was _born_ for the reunion. And now that he had returned he couldn't help feeling that without her he had no purpose, no reason to exist. He hadn't forgotten her betrayal, but he could not pretend that the promise of having it all wasn't still appealing. The only thing he had to cling to now was the hope that maybe he could create another chance for himself, and right where he had gone wrong.

Still, Yuffie was an entirely different deal. He surmised that it could've been just the fireworks making her look like that, but his instinct knew better. He thought back to the pawn shop where he had woken up to find her gripping his hands, invading his space. She could've run then, but she hadn't. She had that same look in her eye. He frowned, he didn't need anybody to be concerned for him. He wasn't weak. And yet, just the fact that she was concerned in the first place left him feeling something beside anger, something he really couldn't put a name to_._

He felt as if these things he couldn't understand were the very reasons he constantly found himself doing things that got him in deeper. The thought of her supposed boyfriend had gotten under his skin in a way that nothing had, and upon the kiss under the fireworks, he had felt some great triumph, a powerful possessiveness rise up in him. But she wasn't his and he didn't know why he was thinking like that in the first place. He had never had anything that was truly his anyway. But when he felt her surrender to him, when he remembered they way she'd said his name that one night, and _only_ his name, he forgot that.

But could a girl like her belong to anyone? That cowardly freak of nature probably could never handle her. Vincent. Kadaj felt something violent flare up inside of him. He remembered that large red mass that had interfered with his fight years ago. Coddling coward. Kadaj had noticed that he'd been watching them, but he'd paid him no mind. He hadn't been any kind of threat. Maybe Yuffie liked weaklings.

He found himself getting very unfocused in the wake of all of it and snapped himself out of it. Right now he didn't have time for any of the foolishness that always seem to come along with her.

Kadaj was so deep into his head he didn't realize he had long departed from the muggy, crowded celebration and had moved into much clearer streets. A streetlight nearby flickered and he moved towards it, eyes scanning the area for any sign of his brother. But there was nothing, only a long empty run of road ahead of him and the fading din of the celebration.

Suddenly he came to a stop, his muscles pulling taut as a familiar feeling started to take over him. _Mother?_ It certainly wasn't as complete a feeling as it had been before, but that same sensation was there, like some kind of intruder trying to breach the haven of his consciousness. It was much weaker than it had ever been and he stood still, just listening. But there were no words.

It wasn't long before he felt it start to fade, and like so many old patterns some panic rose up in him as he completely lost the signal, reaching inside of his own head for any threads of it that might be left. But it was gone, and he could never explain it but along with the familiar manic excitement that usually came along with his mother, there was something else.

Something that had suddenly struck him as her faint presence completely faded. Something that felt strangely like satisfaction, relief. He wondered if the part of him that was still bitter and uncertain had something to do with it, if his mind had resisted her because of it. And even stranger, the thought of having resisted her left him feeling almost...amused.

But as soon as he'd felt it, he was ashamed, his old endless loyalty another ghost he couldn't seem to get rid of. He shouldn't be thinking like that, she was his mother, and the only reason he was even working with Sephiroth was to get to her, he told himself. Thoughts like that a year ago would've been practically traitorous. But what's a betrayal to a traitor? Something cynical in him asked. And he had no answer.

"Turn around." Kadaj whipped around at sound of the voice behind him, surprised that he hadn't heard anyone approach. He was ready regardless, sword drawn within seconds. But Apparently the stranger was a quick draw as well, and within the second he'd turned around he was looking down the barrel of a gun. A rather familiar gun. He froze. This kind of hesitation was so unlike him, but when he caught sight of the gun and the incandescent eyes behind the hand holding it, he absolutely froze.

"I thought that perhaps I was seeing things." The gun rattled as Yazoo spoke and took silent steps into the light. "But I had to be sure." The older remnant's look of disbelief faded into something Kadaj couldn't quite decipher.

"Lower your gun." It wasn't any kind of a greeting, especially for long lost brother, but it was certainly typical Kadaj. No matter what, he was a cynic at heart and despite even his own mission to find Yazoo and the fact that he'd glimpsed what could've been Yazoo earlier, the fact that he appeared to be standing before him didn't at all fit into the pattern of they way things usually went for him.

He _never_ ran into anyone he actually wanted to see. Yazoo watched him closely for what Kadaj thought was a moment too long before bringing his gun down. Kadaj sheathed Souba. "I don't even see why that was necessary."

"I would rather not be impaled so soon after my resurrection." He said, in that same humorless way that meant something was impossibly obvious. Kadaj knew he was right. If he hadn't seen the Velvet nightmare, he would not have ceased to act, and without the protection of his weapon perhaps he would be watching Yazoo die right now. Now Kadaj knew it had to be him, he'd known no one else with such a degree of foresight, and few others who could anticipate him.

"Right." Kadaj said, crossing his arms. He was acutely aware of the shift that occurred due to the recent turn of events. No longer the leader, or the one with the most privilege, his place with his own brothers was actually somewhat of an uncertainty.

"My apartment is not so far from here." Kadaj lifted his head at his brother's voice. "The street really isn't a proper place for this." For what? Kadaj wanted to ask, but he already knew. They were brothers reunited in life and there was so much to talk about, an impossible amount of things to say. Yazoo took in a rattling breath. "I'm glad to see at least one of us is in good health." Kadaj couldn't fathom what he meant, but he knew that in his own way Yazoo was saying that it was good to see him.

Yazoo just wasn't the type to just say things like that outright, and Kadaj plain didn't say them. But regardless, the youngest brother was content to know Yazoo hadn't decided to hold a grudge against him, because he was definitely one of the few people that deserved that right. Kadaj coughed, remembering the dying light in Yazoo's eyes that night, the blood on his hands. And the failed plans of reunion.

"Yeah. You too." his response made absolutely no sense, but Yazoo seemed to understand. The two remnants stood there awkawardly for what seemed like an eternity."Any time this year that you decide to show the way would be great." Kadaj said.

"Follow me then." he turned around and headed off in the opposite direction, limping somewhat. Kadaj followed, wondering why he hadn't noticed that.

"What happened to you?" Yazoo continued to walk, his hands tucked into his pockets, arms hanging like lifeless white cords. Yazoo had always been skinny, but damn. Kadaj remembered something. "I thought you were lefthanded?" Yazoo snorted.

"We all are, Kadaj."

"Then why were you holding your gun in your right?"

" My left hand is practically useless. Much like my right leg." Kadaj frowned.

"Have you been fighting?" Yazoo turned into the next block, and moved onto the sidewalk. Kadaj noticed that his breathing was a tad labored.

"No, only working. My apartment is not much, but it is sufficient. And as long as I continue to pay, I am left alone." They stopped at a rather dilapidated building, much like all of the other ones in the neighborhood. Kadaj curled his lip at the condition of the place, the condition of his brother and the fact that his question had not been answered yet. Yazoo had always had a gift for evasion.

The smell of the place when they entered was nearly overpowering. A potpourri of disgusting things Kadaj didn't even want to think about. From the possible rulers of the universe to this. They had lived in better caves.

"This was the best you could find?" Kadaj said, crossing his arms. Yazoo shook his head.

"The best I could afford." Kadaj followed him up the stairs, listening the loud creaking underneath them. It made Kadaj a bit annoyed. But he was starting to understand more about himself to know that it wasn't the sudden reappearance of his brother, the smell or condition of the apartment that had him so on edge. What really got to him was seeing the condition Yazoo was in and the dump he had to inhabit, and knowing that it was mostly, if not all, his fault. He honestly felt that if he had stayed on track with mother and proven himself more, things wouldn't be like this.

He wouldn't be sneaking around looking for his brothers, living in some little girl's room with his arrogant eldest brother hanging over him. They wouldn't be scattered and weak and purposeless, forced to hide themselves. Deep down he knew that Yazoo had also picked this place for other reasons, picked this part of town because he could have his solitude and refuge from eyes that might recognize him. Eyes that might recognize his damnable inhuman eyes and ridiculously conspicuous silver hair.

In his state he wasn't truly fit to completely defend himself. Kadaj actually wondered how Yazoo had managed to get a job, let alone three. None of it would've happened if he hadn't fucked everything up, they would've been restored to their rightful positions in the universe, and he wouldn't be battling an onslaught of unwanted feelings for the very person who'd drawn him off his path.

Yuffie. A catastrophe he never could've foreseen. He thought again to watching her under the fireworks. He thought about the blush that tended spread across her cheeks when she became frustrated or angry...that one particular shade she took on when underneath his hands, her skin fevered and soft...

"Kadaj." Yazoo's voice suddenly shattered his reverie. He looked up to find his older brother watching him, his face darkened.

"What?" Kadaj snapped, feeling very much like he'd been caught doing something he shouldn't have.

"Follow me." Yazoo still looked a bit suspect, and Kadaj realized that during his musings he'd just stopped on one the stairs. Without another word Yazoo continued on his way, his right hand tightly gripping the banister. After about five flights, they arrived at his door. Kadaj noticed that his breath wasn't nearly as labored as Yazoo, but his body began to remind him of the beating it had taken since it's rebirth. He could do with a day of rest, but he doubted he would ever get it. But the pain nearly faded when he thought about finally getting to see Loz once inside.

Yazoo turned the key, and the heavy metal door opened with a loud creaking of the hinges. Kadaj entered immediately, taking in his surroundings. He heard Yazoo close and lock the door behind him and pocket his keys. Kadaj looked around. Yazoo hadn't been lying when he said it wasn't much.

The floors were an old decaying hardwood, and the furnishing was practically nonexistent. He could see a mattress in the only bedroom, one or two pots on the stove, a barren bathroom to his right and a frail looking table and chairs in the middle of what was probably supposed to be the living room. Yazoo set his gun on the table and moved to the bathroom to wash his hands. While the water was running loud in his ears, Kadaj realized something.

"Yazoo." he swallowed. The water kept on running, the only sound in the hot dusty apartment. "Yazoo." he called again. And this time the water ceased, Yazoo walked out of the tiny bathroom drying his hands on a rather ratty towel.

"What is it?" Kadaj scanned the place over and over again.

"Where's Loz." Yazoo's skinny hands froze on the towel. Kadaj narrowed his eyes. "Where is he?" Yazoo walked into the kitchen and ducked down to get a rag. "Goddamnit Yazoo, don't ignore me!" Yazoo stood up and walked out of the little kitchenette.

"I don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know?" Yazoo's normally neutral face darkened, his full mouth now a thin line.

"I mean exactly that, Kadaj." Yazoo sighed and sat down at the frail little table, running the rag across his gun. Kadaj shook his head.

"No, he has to be with you. You both are always toge-"

"Not anymore." Kadaj stared at the surface of the table, not really seeing it. Like something fierce from another lifetime, Kadaj felt himself start to fall into old patterns. But the power and conviction that came along with being a leader was gone. He couldn't demand answers, because he could see very clearly that there were none. No amount of screaming, of commanding, of empty displays of his power, would give him answers. But there was one question he could ask, one he hoped he wouldn't have to. He'd just assumed...

"Is he alive?" The silence that met his question was maddening. Kadaj couldn't take it. "I asked you a question. I want an answer." Yazoo pressed the rag harder to his gun.

"I don't know Kadaj."

"You don't _know_? You don't even know whether he's alive or dead?" Yazoo stopped and raised his head, eyes bright enough to tinge his cheeks with green.

"Do you?" Kadaj froze, absolutely nothing he could say. This whole thing was in the wake of his mistakes, maybe it was he who should know, he who should've prevented this from happening in the first place. "You are not the only one affected by this." He'd just assumed that because the two of them had always been so close that Yazoo would know. Then something suddenly occurred to him, something that made him feel like an outsider and a jerk many times over. Loz was gone. And if there was anyone on the planet more affected by this turn of events it was Yazoo. And when he made the effort to pay attention to something besides himself, he could see that Yazoo wasn't any more happy that he didn't know. Just the fact that he could see it on his very closed brother's face, was significant in itself.

He had been closest to Loz, and vice versa. Kadaj had always thought about himself, about mother. He'd always been pretty separated, and yet Loz and Yazoo had trusted him, absolutely committed themselves to him. That was so much more than he could say for his mother.

Yazoo pushed out the other chair with his foot.

"Sit down." Kadaj sat down after a moment of consideration. He watched Yazoo resume cleaning his gun, and now that Kadaj got a good look at it...

"Let me see that." Yazoo handed over his gun, something of a smirk on his face, nearly hidden by all that long milky brown hair. Kadaj turned the impossibly light thing over in his hands and inspected it more closely. He snorted. No, that was definitely Yazoo alright. Cunning through anything. "No bullets. Unbelievable."

"They're expensive. And scarce." Kadaj handed it back. Well at least it was shiny, he doubted that even if his brother did acquire bullets, the thing would work properly.

"You should save up for something that works." Now that Kadaj saw him up close in the semi decent light, he could see that Yazoo's injuries went beyond his arm and leg. The area around his eye was darkened and scarred, and his lips and cheeks had been sliced in areas. The damage continued down along his neck until his shirt interfered.

"I'm going to fix this one." Yazoo said easily.

"I never knew you were so sentimental."

"There are a lot of things you don't know." Kadaj ground his teeth.

"That's ironic, coming from you." Yazoo sat back.

"Isn't it?" His eyes slid to the door and then back again. "When were you reborn Kadaj?"

"I don't know, maybe about a month ago. Why does it matter?"

"I was reborn about two months ago." Yazoo traced the tender spot around his eye. "And Loz maybe a week before that." Kadaj brightened.

"So you and Loz were together?" Yazoo lowered his pale, slender hand to the table.

"At one point. But there was a repeat of the happenings in the lifestream."

"The rebirth? What are you talking about?" Yazoo stilled, watching his younger brother closely.

"No, not the rebirth. Surely you..." Yazoo cut himself off, looking again at his brother as if he were some kind of conundrum.

"_What?_" Kadaj asked irritably, tired of being stared at. Yazoo finally came out of his incredulity.

"I just assumed you knew..." Yazoo said, looking a bit tense.

"Knew what? If there's a point to this Yazoo, get there soon." Yazoo sighed.

"Your injuries, were you reborn with them?" Kadaj rolled his eyes, hoping this was going somewhere.

"Most of them." Yazoo raised an eyebrow but did not inquire further.

"So was I. And so was Loz."

"Yaz-"

"I'll come to the point in a moment, Kadaj. First I have to explain something. The life stream is essentially the planet's energy, it is a place of healing. Despite Geostigma, it still maintained that power. It's why we're sitting here today, because we were virtually the embodiment of everything Geostigma was. We we're purged, very much like the stigma itself. In the process that part of our being has been torn away, in a way I suppose you could say that we've been healed of the stigma." there was a wry smile. "But that isn't all. We should've have returned completely healed, regardless of the damage inflicted upon us in our first life." Yazoo's mouth tightened. "But the process of rebirth did not go as planned, there was interference." Kadaj frowned.

"Interference?"

"Yes. Loz and I were able to understand it, but you...you don't remember anything?" Kadaj clenched his teeth.

"I told you Yazoo I..." _wait..._Kadaj suddenly recalled that feeling just as the clouds had started rolling into the lifestream. He recalled the feeling of invasion just as the rain had started up, and the dead started to cry. That blue behind his eyes, the old shadows, the warmth running down his back. He looked at his chest, at the wound right above his heart.

He'd been so confused and angry he hadn't thought to think that it wasn't commonplace. But now that he thought about it with a clear head, he saw that something...no someone had tried to meddle. He looked at the wound again. That person had missed by a only a fraction of an inch. Only just a little lower and Kadaj had the feeling that he would have _died_ during his rebirth, lifestream or not.

"Sephiroth tried to dispose of all of us." Kadaj couldn't help the shock.

"That can't..."

"It was a very real fight between the three of us. He chose to strike just as the lifestream prepared to purge us, so that it wouldn't have time to heal his damage. If it had gone according to plan, we all would have been reborn, dead. He came for us first because Loz and I were not as badly injured as you were, and would have required more energy to destroy."

"I would have known." Kadaj said more to himself.

"In a sense, apparently you did know. You felt it, rather than seeing it like Loz and I did. It fits in with the norm. But I don't think you could have comprehended it at the moment since you sustained the most damage." the younger brother looked up at his brother, disbelievingly. "You took a great deal of the damage Cloud inflicted on Sephiroth after he'd consumed your body, as well as the injuries you'd gotten of your own accord. It makes sense that you could not comprehend yet, regardless of the healing. And the connection you and Sephiroth share more than likely only served to confuse. It could have been a number of things. Could you even see him?"

"No. I couldn't." Kadaj felt an angry heat start to rise within him. He should've known. He should've known Sephiroth would try to do something like that.

"Well Loz and I could, but fortunately time was not in Sephiroth's favor. Nothing was actually. The planet holds a fierce grudge. And it has refused to aid him in anything. The planet refused to heal him." Yazoo smiled. "And Loz and I fought him with everything we had. We were determined to destroy him." Kadaj watch his brother light up, more shocked than ever. Yazoo had always been reverent when it came to Sephiroth, or any matters surrounding him. Yazoo had always been the one to insist on patience, to assure Kadaj on earlier nights that Sephiroth only wanted the best for all of them.

But now that he thought about it, Yazoo's conviction even then hadn't been so complete. Always the most introspective out of the three of them, Kadaj had known Yazoo had a habit of wondering, questioning. And he remembered how much their mother had hated it. He thought back to the light in Yazoo's eyes that suddenly used to appear, the quiet thought, the secret trips he'd taken simply to observe.

Kadaj had come near to wanting murder his Sephiroth a few times himself, but he had never acted, never spoken it out loud like Yazoo was doing now. He almost felt betrayed for it, he almost felt as if this was someone else before him. And at the same time he felt that Yazoo was justified in it, like all of them were. He winced, realizing the weight of the thought.

"Sephiroth miscalculated, he simply assumed we would all be reborn at once. But instead, we were born in according to our true births. Sephiroth was reborn first, and because of the battle with me and Loz and the effort he put into disposing of us, he returned to the planet in worse shape than he had been in before. In fact he might not have survived the process if not for you."

"What?" Kadaj gave him his full attention.

"He took advantage of the connection you have with him. He used your life force to get him through. Loz and I thought you wouldn't survive after that, but clearly we were wrong. Loz was least injured out of all of us, and in the time after Sephiroth's departure from the lifestream he healed a bit more. So did I, but I was in worse condition and I was born nearly right after Loz." Yazoo's eyes slid to the door again. "Whether or not you believe it, I have healed quite a bit since then." Kadaj snorted. "Then you were born. That fact that you were the last gave you more time to recover, it's only because of that, that you are here today. After everything, Loz and I were certain you would die. Sephiroth was probably counting on it." There was silence.

"That is the most I believe I have _ever_ heard you speak." Kadaj said offhandedly. Yazoo raised an eyebrow. "How do you know all this?"

"I listened."

"Listened."

"Yes. In the lifestream it is all you really need to do. Perhaps that was the place for me." Yazoo flicked his bangs away from his eye. "And I'm sure you know how much our eldest brother likes to talk. But what he didn't tell us, I learned from the voices of the planet, and this one particular voice. A girl with a very familiar face, smelled like...flowers. Anyway, I was listening and she called. Loz and I answered. She enlightened us about so many things. Things I had wondered about for so long..." Kadaj's face darkened.

"You answered her call?"

"Yes. You should have too."

"So she could brainwash me?" Yazoo frowned.

"So she could tell you the truth. Haven-"

"She's a liar Yazoo." Kadaj thought back to the initial thought he'd had upon his death. that he was finally going to be with his mother. But it was her instead. That weak girl the planet seemed to favor so much. "I don't need anyone tell me lies." Yazoo turned on him with such a nasty countenance, Kadaj could hear the words before they were said.

"I suppose not. Our mother does it so well already." Kadaj was struck speechless. He stood up, knocked Yazoo's gun flying.

"You take that _back._" he said dangerously. Yazoo remained sitting, looking calm but viciously so.

"No." Kadaj didn't know what to do, after everything that had happened, everything he'd learned and everything that suddenly just was, he just didn't know what to do.

"What did you just say to me?"

"I said no." Kadaj pounded on the table.

"Who the hell _are_ you? You're a traitor, you're a-"

"I'm your brother. If you want to know what a traitor looks like you do not have to look very far, in fact I bet that traitorous presence is trying to reach you right now-"

"Because I'm proving myself to her-"

"No, Kadaj. Because she needs _you._ Don't you understand? You are only a puppet, a tool to be used. This isn't a matter of proving yourself-"

"What do you know about it!"

"Sadly, more than you do. Hasn't it crossed your mind, how any kind of mother could do what she has done? All of us, even Sephiroth are pawns to her. She is only interested in herself. All of the things she's done to each of us, s-"

"How can you say this? You don't u-"

"I've said nothing you haven't thought already." There was suddenly a stark silence. The truth in those words sent him reeling.

"I have to prove myself to her, Yazoo. Then everything will be alright. I failed her, I wasn't worthy and that's why-"

"Kadaj, we were only tools. That's all. The only one who failed was her. And she will persist until she is triumphant. She will continue to use you. You ask who I am, but I am the same person. My curiosity has led my to answers. I always wondered Kadaj, it just didn't seem to fit...that's why she punished me for it. She knew it was dangerous, that she would lose her control. Her control is her power, and you fall for it despite what is right in front of your eyes." Yazoo said, watching his younger brother closely.

"Sephiroth promised he'd help me see her again." It was Yazoo's turn to be shocked. The taller remnant got to his feet.

"Sephiroth promised?..." Kadaj had never heard such a note in Yazoo's voice before.

"I'm going to prove-" Yazoo scowled.

"All you've proven is that you are a fool." Kadaj nearly stumbled. "How can you trust him? Do you hear yourself, little brother? After everything he has done to us. After everything he has done to _you_, and you're working with him?"

"He won't-"

'You don't know what he will do Kadaj. He can not be trusted. You of all people should know that. He's the reason why Loz-" Yazoo cut himself off, finding himself reaching a degree of anger that would get them absolutely nowhere. Kadaj looked up.

"Loz?" Yazoo sighed.

"He was acting strangely for weeks. And then he simply disappeared. I felt that Sephiroth had something to do with it. Now that I hear this I know for sure that Sephiroth is alive." Yazoo looked so haggard. Kadaj crossed his arms and looked away.

"Yes, and we're going to find mother again, I'm going to prove myself." Yazoo shook his head.

"I had hoped that even after his rebirth that he might simply wither. I was sure he couldn't possibly have the strength to sustain himself once reborn. But we wanted...so much to see you Kadaj." There was a lot in those words, devotion, pain, _disappointment_.

Kadaj continued to look away. He just couldn't take any more. "I can't force you into anything Kadaj. No one can, you will have to see it eventually. Even if you don't want to." Yazoo started walking towards the door. "But I think you do see it, I and think you've seen it for what it is before even I or Loz."

Yazoo suddenly opened the door and there was Yuffie, poised to knock.

"Uh...hi. Listen I wouldn't have followed you, but I really have to talk to Kadaj." She brought her giant shuriken in front of her, just in case Yazoo decided to whip out his gun. Kadaj stood in the middle of the living room, at a loss for words. Yazoo turned to Kadaj.

"Look who it is Kadaj." he said smoothly. Kadaj heard the accusation in it, the knowing tone.

"And I know this is gonna sound weird, but can I use the bathroom? You do have one right?" Yuffie started looked around the apartment, despite the fact that she had not been let in yet. Yazoo let her in and motioned to the bathroom. She nearly ran to it, taking her big shuriken with her. When the door closed, Yazoo closed the front door and crossed his arms.

"So do you think mother will be happy with that?"

"I thought I _had_ killed her."

"But you didn't. And it's obvious that you don't plan on doing it." Kadaj started to advance on his brother.

"How is it obvious? You don't know nearly as much as you think you do Yazoo."

"Because you two are entirely too familiar. Neither one of you looks at all shocked that the other is alive. So you must be passed that point, and isn't it funny how she simply managed to find you here? In this very particular place? Why, she must be some type of navigational savant. Or... maybe she was with you earlier." Kadaj's glare could've killed. "and you haven't killed her yet. What a surprise." Kadaj couldn't say anything. Yazoo smiled. "Granted, she is annoying to no end but I don't have a problem with her. Neither do I have any qualms about whatever relationship it is you have with h-"

"We do _not_ have a relationship!"

"Sure, little brother. But what I'm trying to show you is exactly what I've been telling you. Do you honestly think that if your devotion to mother was as pure as you say it is, that you would be doing whatever it is you're doing with her? That you would have even allowed her to live? Your relationship with her just about defies every principle mother holds dear, everything she taught us. And you know it."

"It's not..." Yazoo sighed.

"Whatever you decide to do, allot yourself the most advantage. In your current state, you're horribly susceptible to both Sephiroth and mother. If you plan on involving yourself any further with them, you need to be focused. You can't be in between."

"I am focused."

"No you're not. If you were focused, I think you would've realized that Yuffie was following us. Ninja or not, it was nothing your ears should not have picked up." Kadaj curled his lip. The door to the bathroom flung open and Yuffie came tumbling out with her huge ninja star.

"Your door sticks a little." she said, feeling the tension between the brothers. "If I'm interrupting something, I'll wait." Yazoo picked his gun up from the floor.

"No, I think we're done here." Kadaj started for the door. "I hope to see you again Kadaj." But Kadaj was already headed down the stairs, without so much as a goodbye. Yuffie winced, looking back at Yazoo.

"Um...thanks for the bathroom." He nodded and she headed out, on her way to catch up with Kadaj.

"Hey Kadaj, wait!" she said, running down the stairs. But he continued to walk as fast as he could to the exit. He finally stopped once out in the now pitch black street, and she nearly collided with him. Two lights nearby flickered, dim beams piercing the heavy darkness.

"Stop following me." he said quietly. She watched his back, running a small white hand through her hair.

"Listen, I know I'm not your most favorite person in the world, but I have to talk to you." He kept his back to her.

"Leave me alone."

"No, it's important." Yuffie started to wonder why she was even bothering, he was clearly intent on being an asshole. She swallowed. "Cloud and Vincent are looking for you." she felt like such a traitor. "I don't know what they're planning, but if you aren't trying to kill the planet then I'll just tell them there's nothing to worry about!" she said cheerfully, suddenly realizing how stupid that sounded. Vincent and Cloud weren't men who just believed things like that, especially if it came from her. They would more than likely continue searching for him as long as they knew he was out there. But she just had to know, she just had to try. He turned around.

"And if I am?" Yuffie bit her lip. The answer was obvious, Cloud and everyone would try to get rid of him.

"But you aren't, right? I mean, you're different now-"

"No, I'm just the same as I've always been."

"No you're not. Kadaj, I promise I'll leave you alone if you tell me that you're not going to harm the planet."

"I'll do whatever mother wants me to!" he snapped. Yuffie blinked.

"Mother? But I thought that whole box thing was over with?" Kadaj advanced on her.

"Don't you talk about her that way." he hissed. Yuffie was getting a little angry herself. Maybe he wasn't different, maybe he was that same boy who'd tried to kill her in the same night she'd let him...Yuffie balled her fists, what an ungrateful bastard. She was trying to save his goddamned _life_ and this is how he acts!

"I'll talk about her any way I want to! What kind of a mother tells her sons to do insane shit like killing the planet?!"

"You don't understand-"

"You're the one who doesn't understand! Mothers, or any mother who deserves to be one, care about their children! They don't just let them die, they don't tell them to hurt their family, they don't make you collapse in the middle of a damn pawn shop!" she said motioning wildly with her hands.

" You don't...This doesn't involve you!"

"_You _involved me!" She felt her eyes start to burn. "All I wanted was my materia back! But no, you had to bring me along, and all this crap had to happen. You think I wanted this? I have better things to do than chasing you down, trying to help you. But I'm not, instead I'm arguing with an asshole in the street, because I was stupid enough to care what happened to you!" She swallowed, not meaning to have said that much. He crossed his arms.

"No one asked for your help, I'm fine by myself. I've been telling you that and still you insist on pestering me!"

"I asked you to let me go so many times._ You're_ the one who kept me around." he was struck speechless. He looked so troubled.

"Don't be a _fool_. You're making something out of nothing. Nothing. And that's all you are to me. I don't know what you've dreamt up, but whatever it is, it's wrong. All I want is for you to leave me alone, all I _want_ is for you to just go away." Yuffie hated herself for the hot tears in her eyes, the ones sliding down her cheeks where he could see them. She felt so embarrassed and angry. So _hurt._..and she hated herself for it. She hated him. He froze at the sight of her tears, and he didn't even see her fist coming.

She punched him right in the face, and he stumbled back, shocked by the power behind it. Without another word she marched off into the darkness, her giant shuriken disappearing with a sharp gleam. He put on a scowl over his shock and walked off in the opposite direction, trying to convince himself that it really did mean nothing to him.

Yuffie was beginning to see the light of the celebration farther off when she heard a voice.

"Sweet Shiva, I never would've guessed." she stopped abruptly, wiping away her tears in hopes of seeing clearer. "Over here." she turned to find the head a of a certain Turk sticking out of a the window on an inconspicuous little car. _Oh God._ Reno. He would never let her forget this little crying incident.

"I'm not crying!" she said, turning away.

"Whoa there. No one even asked about that." he chuckled. "But what I _would_ like to know is what the hell that was with Kadaj over there." Yuffie's mouth fell open. Was the whole world going to find out tonight?

"Great."

"Yeah. I saw that too. Though I honestly never would've expected it in a million years."

"It was nothing. I just ran into him today, I had no idea he was back."

"You're a bad liar kid."

"And I'm also tired, I've been walking all.." She started to choked up again. "all goddamn day..." she exhaled as the tears tried to come again.

"So get in." Yuffie ran to the passenger's side, got in, and held her head in her hands.

"Thanks."

"No problem." He ruffled his stark red hair and shifted awkwardly. "I'll take you to the bar, but if you cry like that all the way you're going to ruin my interior." She glared at him and tried to straighten herself out. He started the engine. "You uh...wanna talk about it?"

"No, I do not want to talk about it."

"Fine on me." he turned up the radio as they started down the road. She turned it down.

"What were you doing spying anyway?"

"My job."

"Oh." he looked at her at out the corner of his eye.

"The one I fought. Yazoo I think. We've been keeping tabs on him for weeks." She looked at him. "I never expected to see either you or Kadaj." He rounded a corner. "You know, you're pretty stealthy, ever think about being a Turk?"

"Your kidding right?"

"Yes, I am. You're still too clumsy." Yuffie managed to crack a smile.

"You're such a jerk Reno."

"I know. But isn't my car nice?"

"I could hardly notice it."

"That's the point." Yuffie sighed.

"Okay I wanna talk about it now, so shut up." he nodded."I just wanted my materia, that's all. I didn't want this. It just kinda sorta happened. I don't even know how. And he's the one that started it." she pouted. "He says one thing and then he does another. I mean, one day he's beating me up and then like, a second later we're... you know."

"You know?"

"You know."

"What? You slept with him?"

"What? No!"

"Well, you said 'you know' and no one says 'you know' unless it's sex."

"You know, if you could not be a pervert for one minute that'd really be great."

"Think I can manage, go on." Yuffie rolled her eyes.

"Tonight, I was just trying to help. It's really weird, my father always said that if I wasn't so selfish I wouldn't always have so many problems. I mean he said it differently, but the one time I totally go out of my way it goes like this." she bit her lip. "I wish I hadn't met him. I wish I hadn't found that materia."

"_You_, are wishing you hadn't found materia?"

"Yeah, I guess I am."

"That's insane."

"Yeah." she leaned her head against the window. "You're going to tell everyone you saw Kadaj aren't you?"

"Yeah, I have to. It's my job. What my boss chooses to do with the information is different though."

"Right, so you might as well know that Loz is living with Kadaj, he-"

"What? Who told you that?"

"Kadaj." Yuffie looked at him.

"It's a lie kid. I know that for a fact."

"What?"

"I know the exact location of that particular brother." Yuffie blinked.

"Loz? I don't believe you."

"Believe what you want."

"Then who's living with him?"

"Who knows."

"Show me."

"I can't, it's completely under wraps."

"Not anymore."

"What are you trying to say?" They both smiled.

"I'm saying that if you don't show me, I'll tell them about this operation with Yazoo and that you know where Loz is."

"What if I tell them about you?" Yuffie watched him.

"Go right ahead and do it."

"You're bluffing."

"Am not. And if you show me I'll tell you where Kadaj lives, you won't even have to look for him."

"You sure you haven't considered being a Turk?"

"I'm too clumsy."

" Is there a reason you want this so much?"

"I just wanna see for myself okay?"

"Right. Okay, deal." He turned into seventh heaven. "I really can't believe that I just made a deal with you."

"Me either." Yuffie started to get out. "Call me alright?"

"It'll be about a month before I can show you."

"Fine." she stood on the sidewalk, looking like a wreck. "Thanks for the ride."

"Sure." he winked and drove off, leaving her in a cloud of smoke._ Is there reason you want this so much?_ Yuffie, held her head. Yeah, there was. But she didn't think it was the right time to reveal her suspicions. Someone was living in that house with Kadaj, and now that she thought about it, that long sword she'd seen in the room with the materia looked an awful lot like...Sephiroth's.

But she just had to be wrong, he was _dead._ Killed twice. Still, she knew she lived in a world where dying hardly meant anything. She just hoped she was wrong. But for now she had to keep her cool, or everyone would know something was wrong. She walked in the bar and found that everyone was there.

"Yuffie, thank God." She was immediately swept into a tight embrace. She could see Vincent and Cloud at the bar over Tifa's shoulder, watching them. "I was so worried." Yuffie looked at the time. One thirty. Tifa let her go.

"Sorry." she muttered. "I got held up." Tifa was looking at her strangely.

"Are you alright?" there was so much concern there.

"Of course I am!" but the energy she put into it sounded a little phony. Tifa didn't looked satisfied at all.

"Okay."

"Can I have some water?" Tifa blinked.

"Of course you can, why are you even asking?"

"Oh, right." Tifa looked even more worried now. They went over to the bar and both Cloud and Vincent were staring.

"Are you alright Yuffie?" Cloud asked, as Vincent simply watched from the corner of his eye.

"Stop asking me that." Cloud nodded, taking in her severely red eyes. He put his keys down on the bar. "Tifa was going to have us go out and look for you."

"Sorry about that." she whispered more than said. Her voice was raw. Cloud was actually expecting an outburst more like 'I'm not a child...blah blah..." before 'sorry.' He was starting to think Tifa had been right when she'd said that she thought something was up. Whatever it was, it didn't look good. And even though he disagreed with Yuffie a lot, and gave her a hard time sometimes, he _did _care about her.

Tifa gave him a knowing look and put the glass of ice water on the counter. She motioned for him to come upstairs with her. Cloud shrugged and left, nodding to Vincent before he went upstairs. Yuffie's eyelids started to droop and so she moved to the couch in the livingroom. After a while, Vincent joined her. She'd almost forgotten he was there. He was nice warm presence next to her and she noticed that he'd brought the glass of water she'd forgotten. She looked up at him, at the deep red of his eyes and the soft darkness of his hair.

In looks, he was nearly Kadaj's antithesis.

"I'm not thirsty anymore." He nodded and put the glass on the coffee table before them. "I was so hung over on this couch." Yuffie leaned her head against his arm, not really paying attention to what she was saying. Or what she was doing for that matter.

"Hm."

"I kind of feel the same way now." Vincent was silent. "Do you maybe have some of that grapefruit on you?" She laughed, but again it was halfhearted.

"Somehow, I don't think that is what you need."

"What do I need Vincent?"

"Maybe...to be still for a while." He looked down at her. "And to stay out of trouble." Yuffie smiled weakly. She didn't know if that was even possible.

Regardless, it was there. Right on Vincent that she fell asleep in what seemed like an eternity.


	18. Rising Torque

Yuffie kicked the door closed behind her, soaking wet and arms full of groceries. Why, when they were smack dab in the middle of June, was it raining so damn much? Dumping her groceries onto a nearby table, she headed to her room in search of something dry to wear, starting up her messages on the way.

Beep._ Yuffie? Are you there? It's Tifa. I haven't seen you for a while and I was just wondering how you are. Call me when you get this okay?_ Beep.

_It's Tifa again, we're having a bit of a get together tonight. Vincent's going to be there, come if you can. And...I'm always here if you need to talk._ Beep.

Yuffie rolled her eyes, emerging from her room as she pulled on a dry shirt. What was there to talk about? She certainly didn't have anything to talk about. Nope, nothing at all. She was just peachy.

"Are you some kind of recluse now?" Yuffie whirled around, her hands clenched tightly in her shirt. Reno emerged from her kitchen, eating one of _her_ new apples. She was in his face immediately.

"What are you doing here? I could have been dressing!" She snatched the apple from his hand, and set her free hand on her hip.

"Well, I _was_ eating. And you weren't dressing." he paused. "Were you?" He wiggled his eyebrows, not all at as sheepish as he should've been. Yuffie only glared.

"Doesn't matter. Don't you know breaking and entering's against the law?" She stared at the apple in her hand. It was useless now. Leviathon knows where his mouth had been.

"Against the law...," he rolled his eyes up and shook his head "...babe, I _am_ the law." She pursed her lips.

"Whatever. Just leave." She threw the apple at his face and turned on her heel, expecting him to do as she said. He caught the apple with ease, and followed her into the kitchen.

"No can do. I finally got things all set up, you can see Loz now." Yuffie froze.

"...what?" she said, pausing in her chore of putting the groceries away.

"Don't tell me you forgot." he said, leaning back against her fridge. Yuffie didn't look at him. No, she hadn't forgotten. She was just kind of hoping he had. She didn't really want to see Loz anymore, she didn't want to involve herself in _anything _having to do with...

'_All I want is for you to leave me alone, all I want is for you to just go away_.' Yuffie bit the inside of her mouth, feeling that tell tale gravity start to pull at her face, a heavy pressure behind her eyes. His words that night followed her around like some annoying omnipresent narrator she couldn't seem to shut out, and she was furious with herself for having put herself in that position in the first place.

She felt humiliated, and angry, and sometimes, times like now, she felt like she might actually cry. Again. Because it hadn't been humiliating enough bursting into tears in front of Kadaj right?

Didn't he know that when The Great Ninja Yuffie went out of her way for you, it was a hell of a big deal? Nevermind, it didn't matter. Kadaj didn't matter. She didn't want to want him, or to hate him anymore. She just wanted to feel nothing. In fact, she was successfully doing that before Reno decided to break into her house and bring up the elder brother, or before Tifa had decided that she and her needed to _talk. _That was exactly why she'd been keeping to herself for the past month, not answering the phone, nothing. There was a bit of a sour humor in the whole ordeal, especially when just a few days ago Vincent had actually given her a call, and left a very curt, straightforward, Vincent-like message on her phone.

"All of us run Yuffie, eventually we can not anymore. I hope to see you at the bar. "

Tch, and she used to tease _him_ for being emo and antisocial. And now...well...she might as well get herself some pointy boots, a coffin, a red cape and be done with it. _Vincent_ was putting her to shame. Unbelievable. But lately he'd been coming out from behind his walls more often, and what was more, being really nice to her. And then he left messages like that that scared the crap out of her, because even over the phone she wasn't completely sure he hadn't figured her out. Even over the phone she could feel that gaze on her and in her soul, seeing everything. Obviously he couldn't and she realized how clueless even he could be at times, but he just had a way about him that made you think he knew everything, even if you yourself didn't understand what there was to know. It was probably one of the things that annoyed her the most about him.

"Are you actually trying to back out of this?" Reno asked, eyes narrowing. The apple glinted in his hand, nearly at the same time his eyes did. Yuffie huffed, kind of wanting to snatch it from him again.

"I don't back out of anything." she said, the still childish lilt in her voice interfering with her attempt to sound resolute. Reno made a soft sound of disbelief, uncrossed his arms and his legs and stood up straight, lanky but seeming all the more tall for it. She stared him down as if he stood below her own meager height. "I don't." she said again.

"Is that why you don't answer your phone?" he said, the insinuation infuriating.

"I'm too busy to answer the phone." She said, knowing he wouldn't believe that. He choked on his next bite of apple, laughing.

"Like what? Rearrange and shine your ninja stars?" It was bad enough that he'd used finger quotes for 'ninja stars,' because she was a real ninja, damnit, but so what if maybe she had lined her shurikens up and shined them once or twice or um...a few times more than that..it really wasn't his business."So what if I did! What's it to you?" he shrugged and leaned back against her fridge.

"Nothing, it's just that I would have _liked_ to come through the door instead of your window. Some people actually pick up the phone when they know their expecting a call."

"I don't want to see Loz." Yuffie finally said, crossing her arms. "Don't you get it? I didn't answer because I just don't want to anymore, okay? That doesn't mean break into my house and eat my food, it means-"

"It means you're backing out."

"That's not-"

"That's exactly what it means, and that's not happening. I pulled strings for you princess, came through on my end and now it's time for you to come through on your half."

"You can find him without me." she said. His smile was sly.

"Sure we can, but we aren't. Don't you even appreciate the master skill involved in getting you this opportunity you so desperately wanted?"

"Tch, I didn't desperately want anything."

"Yeah you did. You still do. And I wouldn't waste my breath denying it, you and I both know that you're itching to see if it really is Loz we have." Yuffie bit her lip, wanting so much to detach herself from it. From everything that had to do with Kadaj. "Listen Princess, I don't exactly have all the time in the world so..." He motioned for her to hurry up.

"I'm not going Reno." she said, her eyes steel. He returned the look, just a little bit pissed off now. Then he stepped back and shrugged.

"You know what? Fine." he dug his keys out of his pocket. "But are you not going because you honestly don't think it's worth it anymore, or because you're trying _so_ hard to avoid Kadaj?"

"You don't know anything Reno." He frowned and tossed the core of his apple into the garbage. He hated wasting his time.

"I know that you would never pass up action like this, I know that you practically begged me to-" Yuffie got in Reno's face again.

"This has nothing to do with Kadaj." It was an obvious lie, and she knew he knew it. "Gaia, why are you being such an asshole about this? I just don't. want. to. go. Okay?" She knew he was right though. The old Yuffie Kisaragi, the one she used to see in the mirror, would never pass up a chance like this. The Great Ninja Yuffie didn't back out, didn't back down. Her comment didn't seem to affect the Reno the way she had hoped. She didn't care if he was angry, she just wanted him to leave. But instead this very eerily pacific glaze shaded over his eyes.

"You're right." He smoothed out his suit, his fingers slender and white. "I am an asshole. And I know people. Considering these two things princess, you might want to take my word on this. Kadaj doesn't care about you, or if he might've hurt you, or whatever the hell it is your doing now after your little spat on the street. I don't know the kid really, but I know he sure as hell isn't doing....this. Just last month I heard you say the craziest thing, that you wished you hadn't found some materia or something. _You _said that. I didn't believe you would let that bastard screw you up enough to say some shit like that, but now, I think maybe I do believe it." Yuffie was silent, at a loss for something biting to say. Because it was all true. And because it was completely pathetic. Reno headed passed her to the door and she turned to watch him leave, calling out the him just as he was about to close the door behind him. Her pride just couldn't let his words go unchallenged.

"Wait." she sighed, and said the next words begrudgingly, digging her toes into the floor. " Fine. I'll go."

And like the storm raging outside, she wondered if she would ever see the end or it. Or how many times she could be swept up in it without getting completely washed away.

The ride to the rotting insides of Shinra Electric company was an awkward one. Reno and the three cigarettes he'd burned through already were severely screwing up Yuffie's sulking and she reluctantly unslumped herself and tried to roll the window down before she started into a sneezing fit, which would definitely ruin the perfect frown she had going.

She was going to see this disaster through, but she didn't have to be happy about it. And she was going to make Reno _know_ just how unhappy she was. Yuffie was eager to get back to her sulking, but the window just wouldn't budge. She put all of her weight on the crank and it still didn't budge. Yuffie took a self conscious glance at Reno before returning to trying to open the window. Struggling with the crank, she was starting to feel like she looked more stupid than the meticulously crafted look of anger she had down just a few minutes ago.

She gave up and slumped back into the seat, crossing her arms.

"Only my window works." Reno said easily, pulling the cigarette from his mouth and flicking on the signal. Yuffie glared at the dashboard.

"Of course it does." she muttered under her breath. A long space of silence passed in which she only watched buildings go by. "I can't believe I'm doing this."

"From the looks of it, this would seem pretty mild next to what you've been up to."

"Excuse me?" she said, and something in the tone of her voice actually made Reno remember that she really was a princess. All of the entitlement and incredulity on his clear step over the line was there. Doubled with her strange new sullen nature, he was just a little thrown off. "What I've been up to? What's that supposed to mean?" she said defensively.

"You know exactly what it means princess."

"Don't call me that, and no, no I don't. You make it seem like I'm trying to take over the planet with him or something." _Shit._ "Not that that's what he's trying to do..." Reno almost smiled, that was more of the Yuffie he knew, smooth as ever. Yuffie wanted to slap herself. Just like that she had pretty much given herself away. "I mean..." she started, clearly flustered. "Hey, don't worry about it, it's not as if that's the least bit surprising." That one stung, because Yuffie _had_ been surprised, like an idiot, when Kadaj had admitted that another takeover was a definite option. She shouldn't have been surprised, just like she shouldn't have been surprised that night he'd turned his sword on her in her sleep, and done exactly what he'd threatened so many times before. Kadaj was the exception to the rule in so many ways, even as she'd started becoming wise to him. Even now, when he'd done what he'd done to her and she was angry and wanted nothing more than to hurt him badly or better yet forget him, she found her instinct was to hold back, to protect him. Reno seemed to be thinking the same thing.

"Look, the only reason I'm taking you to see this, is because you said you could lead us to Kadaj. Can you do that?" In the silence the engine rumbled so softly, she could hear her own breathing above it.. "Can you_ do_ that Yuffie?" he was looking at her and not the empty road, and after a couple beats she nodded.

"Yeah...yeah, of course I can." her smile was one of those fleeting and starkly superficial ones, and he frowned, turning his eyes back to the road.

Kadaj never used to have dreams. The only voices in his head were the silken whispers of his mother, which on occasion would turn as razor sharp as the fine blade of his sword. There was Sephiroth too, who would often be a mocking presence in the back of his head, whose life, or pieces of it, would flash before his eyes at the slightest trigger.

But Kadaj had never really dreamt, at least until after this second birth. And at the moment, he wasn't sure what he preferred. The voices in his head, or the things he now saw and heard every time he closed his eyes to sleep, things that for the first time had their deepest root in him, and no one else. It might have been liberating, if not for the kind of dreams they were.

Kadaj sat up in bed, and turned his eyes to the storm outside. Another attempt at sleep, ruined.

As dreams usually are in the first seconds of wakefulness, Kadaj found his latest one still vivid in his head. But it wasn't so much a dream as it was a replay of events transpired in the last month.

Over an over again he saw Sephiroth stand up from his chair, saw him fall to the ground in a fall of silver, and white, white skin, wrought with numerous jagged scars. Over and over again he saw Yazoo cradling his gun in his skinny broken arm, polishing it with the arm that wasn't that much better. And over and over again, he saw Yuffie under the street lights, eyes and cheeks wet.

Kadaj was living in a hotel now, a good ways away from that forsaken house, but he didn't quite know what he was doing. He'd left Yazoo in a rage, still passionate about finding his mother, even if that meant working with Sephiroth, who was even more of a snake in the grass than he had previously thought. He had known Sephiroth was not meant to be trusted completely, and he never really did, even after agreeing to work with him. But Kadaj felt betrayal anew when he thought about the things Yazoo had told him.

When he thought about what Sephiroth tried to do to him in the lifesteam. So much of what he was built on an idea of legacy, and he felt it all starting to fall apart. Granted, Sephiroth had always been the way he was, but they had all still been united in their perfection. Sephiroth had used him, thought him inadequate, had left him for dead after Cloud had defeated him but, Kadaj never would have thought that Sephiroth would go out of his way to eliminate them all.

Wasn't this about building a future through their pure and perfect union? Kadaj had been power hungry once, but even then that had come in a close second to the union of his race, his family. Sephiroth didn't value any of that, Sephiroth only cared about himself. And he wondered if his mother was not the same way.

He thought back to Yazoo's words, about them all being puppets, about their mother's power of them being her own and only power. Yazoo was right, he had thought about it before. Kadaj held his held, hissed through his teeth at the shooting pain in his head.

That was happening more often too. Those headaches. And sometimes he thought he heard words through the pain, but he was sure he was just deluding himself. He was sure that was only his wishful thinking, a futile hope that maybe his mother might come to him and explain everything, make it make sense again. But right now, thinking about all that had happened and all that he'd been told he didn't even know if that would help. Other times, he heard something, not quite a voice, but more like a feeling. His mother never dealt in feelings, he had been able to tell she was angry at times, but he'd never felt the anger himself.

But lately there was a certain feeling that kept on coming to him like the voices used to. It was different, but it was still very familiar. It felt like, defeat and fear mostly. There was some anger, but it was a lot of it was such a jumble of emotion Kadaj couldn't make heads or tails of it. Kadaj actually preferred the voices to that nonsense.

But a day or two ago, he had been looking around the ShinRa storage to see if he could find something useful for a plan of his own, there had been nothing. Just old schematics, and other useless parts to things not longer in existence. But he did get that creeping feeling again, the jumble of emotions he didn't quite understand. And as he stood there in the ShinRa storage out of the jumble came two words. _Help_ and _lab_.

He had dismissed it at first as his own madness, but the impression had been so strong, he hadn't been able to let it go since.

He just...didn't know what to believe anymore. But what he did know was that he wouldn't be returning to that house. Sephiroth could carry out whatever plan he had, but if Kadaj was going to redeem himself he was going to do it alone. Or from the looks of it, not at all. He thought about going out to see Yazoo again, but he couldn't face him.

And too much of the time, he thought about Yuffie. Kadaj traced the area around his eye where she had punched him, frowning. He might as well have killed her, because she followed him around like a ghost. When he laid down to sleep, when he woke up, and even now looking at the rain, he thought of her.

"_..I have better things to do than chasing you down, trying to help you. But I'm not, instead I'm arguing with an asshole in the street, because I was stupid enough to care what happened to you!"_

After the fight and he'd gone and stood in front of the house Sephiroth had procured, had thought about razing it with that bastard inside. He thought about going back and tracking her down, killing her too. He had just been so angry, and he just wanted to get rid of everything standing in his way.

His deceitful brother, and that girl who had ruined everything for him, who he didn't understand, or really want to. Who apparently cared what happened to him, even though that was ridiculous. What reason did she have to care about him, after all he'd done to her, and she to him. When it was clear they were two different people, worlds apart. Why, would she care for him?

She was just a busy body, he told himself. Clearly infatuated with him, probably up to something like she always was. She was ruled by her feelings, stupid, deluded, a clown. He didn't want any part of it.

But now, so many times, times like now, the only thing he could see was her face. Looking out at the rain, he kept on see her under those street lights, crying. Crying like someone who was weak, like a child, he told himself. But regardless of what he was telling himself, he could still remember with amazing potency the confusion he'd felt at her tears. Not once had he seen her cry, she screamed and yelled, and struck out, and that hadn't bothered him in the least.

He didn't care if she punched him or kicked him, or even if she pouted and ignored him. She got over it, and he was going to do what he was going to do, so she had no choice anyway. He didn't mind being the source of her frustration. But her tears...they had stunned him.

He could recognize that there was something different about that. And it nagged at him, got through whatever cracks he had I his armor. Because he'd expected her to react like she always did. She was proud, and brash. She attacked and ran on, didn't let much give her pause. But the way she looked, everything about her in that moment told him what he'd done was entirely different from anything he'd done to her before.

And wasn't that what he wanted? Hadn't he wanted to get rid of her, for her to finally get the idea? But still he thought about it, and the strange disarming feeling that came along with those thoughts just made him more mixed up, and angry.

He'd finally gotten his message across, and now he couldn't get her out his mind. How delightfully typical.

Kadaj finally got up and went to go get ready, despite the rain, there were things to be done. It took all of twenty minutes for him to be completely ready, he had his new phone, a certain valuable number in his memory, and his sword strapped on. He was ready to do the last thing he could think of. The very last resort, he was going to go on nothing but a feeling.

"We're here." Reno said, as he stopped the car along the side of the street. Pulling the keys out and tossing his cigarette out of the window all in one motion he paused and regarded the ninja. "You ready princess?" She shot a glare at him and got out of the car, slamming the door behind her. "I'll take that as a yes." he said, getting out of the car as well. Yuffie teepeed her hands over her head as if that would actually do something to protect her form the rain, and Reno came to stand beside her.

"_This_ is it?" she said, trying to be heard above the rain. The place was right next to the ShinRa storage, where she had gotten arrested a month ago.

"What? Not impressed?" Reno said, looking straight ahead and pulling his lighter from his pocket. A cigarette was already sitting ready in his mouth.

"Well it's really small, and crumbled...and.." she watch him light up in the rain, it was a wonder the cigarette didn't immediately go out. "...seriously, Reno? I think you have a problem." Reno smiled down on her, some red hair plastered to his forehead.

"A problem?" Yuffie gave it up and put her hands down, letting the rain come down on her completely.

"Yeah, you smoke more than a..."

"A chimney? Nuclear power plant?"

"Nope. More like that busted car you drive."

"I'm telling you, it's_ inconspicuous_." he said, Yuffie crossed her arms, tried of just looking at the dilapidated building.

"Whatever, can we just go inside now and get this over with? As much as I'm sure you're enjoying the show, I don't like it when my clothes are see-through." Reno blew out a cloud of smoke. "Seriously, I'm getting soaked."

"Alright. Let's head in."

They jogged the formerly dusty, but presently muddy path to the building and once Reno had gotten them inside Yuffie collapsed against the door .

"Gawd! There is no reason why is should be raining that much." Reno lit up another cigarette and hoisted her up by one her arms.

"We gotta hurry this up, there isn't much time."

"Well there are probably a million other things _I'd_ rather doing right now, but what's your hurry?" she said snatching her arm away, following him down the strangely immaculate corridor.

"This place freaks me the fuck _out_, that's what. And I got some other shit that needs to get done."

"Like, what?" Yuffie looked at every closed door they passed, which was every door, actually.

"Turk stuff."

"Oh, more stalking then." Reno snorted.

"A bit yeah. You're just full of questions." He put his hands in his pockets. "Speaking of, I have a question for you."

"What." Yuffie said, annoyed and so sure she knew what or rather who it was going to be about.

"Why Kadaj?"

"I don't wanna talk about it."

"Right."

"And it's not because I still care or anything. Because I totally don't."

"Then why don't you wanna talk about it?" Yuffie froze.

"_Because_. Okay?" she said defensively. "It was stupid and now it's over, which couldn't be more awesome, _alright_?"

"Does the lady protest too much?"

"...What does that even mean? Reeve said that to me once, like that's supposed to mean something, but it..."

"It means that you're awful defensive about something claim not to care about." Yuffie was speechless, she stopped. Reno turned around.

"You know what? I don't need this, I'm heading back. I'll walk if I have to..." she started huffily in the other direction and Reno went after her and caught her by the wrist. He turned her around.

"Hey, I'm sorry. I didn't mean anything by it, I.." he stopped when he saw the extent of his damage. He really hadn't meant to make her so upset, but he saw now that she was. He saw that she was maybe even close to tears again. This wasn't the Yuffie he knew, and he didn't quite know what to do. He'd thought maybe she'd be over it in a week, that this thing with Kadaj had been some kind of weird fling. They were only kids. But clearly, it had been a little bit more than that. In his time knowing the little spitfire, he'd never seen her give anything. She was all about taking, and he could relate to that. But this time, it was becoming clear that she had given something pretty big.

And Reno wasn't ever gonna be sure how it happened, but he already knew too many stories where hearts were given to people who threw them away and took everything else. She hit him on the chest.

"You suck, for making me cry..." he grabbed both of her wrists. "This was why I wanted to stay home!" she struggled, embarrassed for not being able to keep herself in check. Geez, she was going to completely ruin her reputation if she kept on breaking down like this. She stopped struggling, looked up at him. "I'm _so stupid_, Reno." she choked with the tears, and felt them flowing freely down her face. It felt like dam was breaking, like everything she'd tried to ignore, burry and escape in the past month were coming back. "I'm so stupid..." Maybe Vincent was right, maybe she couldn't run.

Reno sighed. This definitely hadn't been in his job description. But he wrapped his arms around the sobbing mess, half to console her, half so she wouldn't suddenly start beating on him again. He let her cry in his already soaked shirt, listened to her curse the remnant up and down and back and forth in both continental and Wutain until it just petered out into the occasional 'mother loving mofo' or the ever classic 'asshole.' When she started to calm down, she lifted her head up again.

"You smell like those gawd-awful cigarettes." He rolled his eyes.

"Well I'm sorry princess, let me get someone else to console you." Reno said, as she pulled away from him.

"Tch, I didn't ask you to in the first place." she wiped underneath her eyes, feeling remarkably better. She shook herself out, couldn't believe she had just cried on Reno in the middle of this creepy-ass hallway. "But thanks." Reno nodded and walked on, and she followed. "And if you ever tell anyone about this, I swear- "

"Hey, one thing we Turks know how to do is keep a secret."

"Good." And by no means could he say that he had gotten the brat completely back, but as she came up to walk beside him, he saw a little bit more of the old Yuffie Kisaragi. But when they their place of destination, a door at the very end of the sterile hallway, Yuffie stopped.

"Wait." Reno stopped and looked at her.

"What."

"Something about this doesn't feel right." Reno's face was unreadable for a split second before it was smiling.

"This place gives me the willies too, but we're here so you gotta suck it up okay?"

"But..." Yuffie's skin was crawling for some reason or other, and though her intuition chose to come and go on its own mostly, and wasn't incredibly reliable, she felt something off about this whole thing. Whenever she did get this feeling, it was for a damn good reason. But maybe she was just being paranoid. Reno opened a series of locks, and then a series of doors that lead to the main room. Yuffie wondered, how many doors could they possibly need? "Okay..." she said, and following him into the room she was met with a sight that might have explained the skin crawling feeling.

Her breath was caught in her throat, and red flag number one raised with such a ferocity, she almost went to run the other way.

"Holy _shit_."

Kadaj hadn't bothered with obtaining another car, since he could get around well enough on his feet. But that still left the problem of being seen. He knew anyone who had been around Edge in the past three or four years was bound to be alarmed at his appearance. So he moved through the crowds carefully, only aided by a hooded jacket he had stolen some days ago.

He had been planning this for weeks, and he knew that any hitch could screw it up completely. This was his last resort, and yet it was by no means a sure thing. He had been tailing Rufus ShinRa for the past week, and so as he approached what was probably the best looking duplex in Edge, he was one hundred percent sure he would be in there.

Kadaj was actually surprised how easy it was to slip passed security, he had been prepared for a bigger defense. It wasn't like he had anything to fear, but he was prepared. Five minutes later saw Rufus also preparing himself for a major event. He thought he might call Reno, and see if he had carried out his orders yet. It had been a long time since he had been without his Turks, but they were all positioned at both of the remnant's houses, and that was more important at the moment.

His Turks had begrudgingly left him, but sometimes it was necessary to make sacrifices for the good of the company. Pulling on a blazer he looked out on the security out front.

"Hello, Mr. President." Rufus whipped around, shock plain on his face. Quickly though, he recovered.

"Kadaj." Rufus hadn't anticipated this at all, though when he thought about it he should have. If Kadaj was going to come out of hiding for anyone it would be him. After what he had done last year, he couldn't imagine the remnant was happy with him. A gunshot that shattered a box of Jenova cells echoed in his ears. And instantly Rufus knew that Kadaj's presence here could blow the whole operation.

Kadaj could keep an impassive face just as well as the famous General, and it was unnerving because Rufus could feel all of the resentment boiling under the surface.

"Good, you remember me."

"How could I forget." Rufus tried to remain calm. After all, Kadaj was hard to anticipate. He might decide to kill you, but then if there was something he wanted he could talk as calmly about it, as if the tension and forever fluctuating current in the air didn't exist. Rufus thought that he could see this through, but just in case he had his cell phone in his pocket. And his gun was in the drawer next to him.

"Oh I don't know, just as easily as you forgot to tell me you had mother."

"I am surprised you did not know." Kadaj grit his teeth, tried to keep himself in check. He needed Rufus ShinRa alive right now.

"Mr. President, it would be in your best interest not to talk right now."

"Why? Are you going to kill me?" Rufus straightened his back. "I know you won't. At least not right now. Clearly there is something you want."

"Then I'll cut to the chase." Kadaj said, still not entirely sure of himself. The only real impetus for this visit was that voice he'd heard while he was in the storage. Something completely insubstantial. He thought it might be his mother reaching through, though everything about this particular voice was very unlike her presence. But he had to try, and Rufus would be the one person able to fill him in. This time Kadaj was not going to be so nice about it. He was going to get information out of the president, by any means. And if Rufus still was of no help, he decided that he was probably going to kill him.

It'd certainly make him feel better.

"You have something of mine Mr. President." Rufus narrowed his eyes.

"And why would you think that?"

"I have.." voices in my head, "...sources." Kadaj remained stone faced, despite how absurd he felt at the he just had to try, it this didn't pan out he didn't know what he was going to do. He needed to find his mother, partly because of the lingering desire he still had to prove himself, to obtain her, and partly because he felt his own faith slipping, and he needed answers from her fast before it went altogether.

If he couldn't believe in mother, who could he believe in? Where would he be without the purpose she created for him?She was the foundation of everything he was, and if he lost her...he was afraid he might lose-

"Sources?"

"Yes, sources. Sources that tell me your keeping something from me in the ShinRa...labs." Kadaj remained purposely vague, since that was all the voices had given him, and when he looked at Rufus, Kadaj saw more than just a tinge of uneasiness. Interesting. Kadaj watched the man closely.

"You're sources are mistaken." And right there, Kadaj heard his heart do a very tell tale thing. The lightest skip, and slight aversion of his eyes that said he was lying_._ And that was all Kadaj needed. Unsheathing Souba, Kadaj had it promptly against the president's throat. Rufus didn't even see him move.

"You're _lying._" Kadaj snatched Rufus's phone from his pocket when he saw that he was reaching for it and threw it behind his back. "And you are going to tell me why."

Yuffie covered her mouth, silently looked over to Reno, who didn't look his best either. He went and locked the doors behind them. That should have been red flag number two.

"Oh my God." Reno came to stand beside her.

"Yeah, it's pretty gruesome." Yuffie blanched, pretty gruesome didn't quite cover it. This was just downright...disgusting. She could hardly even recognize that it was Loz, but she knew it was him. Oh, crap. It _was_ him. That meant that the other person living in the house might just be-

"Did you tell anyone else where Kadaj lives?" Reno asked, rather out of the blue.

"No...no...I didn't." she answered distractedly. Her suspicious father had once said that no questions are ever out of the blue, and the ones that seem like they are the least spontaneous ones. In essence, a question that was probably dwelling in the head of the person who asks for longer than they would have you believe. If she had listened to her father just this once, thought that tidbit was in the least credible, that might have been red flag number three.

Yuffie couldn't help it and approached the figure on the table. Loz was in one of those paper hospital robes, hooked up to an almost obscene amount of machines. The wires were everywhere, and almost looked like they were coming out of him directly. That would've been bad enough, but Loz's condition was the worst part. He was clearly unconscious, but she was in pain just looking at him. He looked so gaunt, so pale. The hollows of his eyes were so dark, and he didn't look half as muscular as she remembered. Both of his arms were completely covered with burns, and as far as she could see the burns continued under his robe. One of his legs looked so bad, she was sure it had to be completely useless.

"What happened to him?"

"We discovered him some months ago just like that lying on the floor of one of ShinRa storage rooms." Yuffie immediately had a flashback to watching the news with Cloud about the partly charred ShinRa storage. This had to have something to do with that.

"How did this happen?" she said, still equal part rapt and grossed out by the sight.

"Don't know, we just found him that way. No one even knows what caused the fire."

Reno turned his back to Loz, Yuffie guessed he was probably as grossed out too. But when she turned to look back at Loz his eyes were wide open. She almost jumped out of her skin. Loz lifted a burned finger to his lips, telling her to be quiet, and she complied, mostly still out of shock. Just when she was about to alert Reno about it, Loz mouthed something.

She couldn't tell what he was trying to say right off, but then she realized he was mouthing the words _Help me._ Help me? But...wasn't he being stabilized right now? Yuffie motioned to him if she should bring over Reno now, but the resulting look of panic stopped her. He shook his head the best he could and lifted a finger to his lips again. And Yuffie would never be able to explain it, but for the second time in twenty minutes, her intuition screamed out at her. Told her something was not right, and this time she listened.

"Hey, Reno?" Reno turned to face her.

"What."

"Can you give me a minute with him?" Reno looked both appalled and confused.

"_What?"_

"Alone, please?" Yuffie tried to think on her toes. "I know you know about me and Kadaj, but I was also-" Reno narrowed his eyes.

"You. And Loz? Get the fuck out." he said disbelievingly. Yuffie knew she had to make this fib a good one.

"Yeah, I've never told anyone before. Kadaj doesn't even know." Reno's mouth fell open.

"You've gotta be kidding me. You know, you might want to think about dating normal people."

"Yeah, I...I don't know. I just have a thing for muscles...and silver hair. And then I saw Loz and then we totally just...I don't know, _clicked." _Yuffie tried to hold back her laughter. "Like, in a sexual way." Reno suddenly looked very uncomfortable. "He was my first, Reno." she said, laying it on as thick as she could. Reno was between a rock and a hard place. Leaving he rin the room alone with the remnant would be a clear violation of procedure, but Yuffie, who was apparently some kind of remnant groupie, was such a mess he felt for her. Besides, what harm could she possibly do, he going to deal with it later anyway.

"Fine, three minutes." Reno walked to the door. "I need a fuckin smoke..." Yuffie listened to him close the doors behind him and then turned her attention to the remnant.

"Tell me right now what the hell is going on here Loz? And it better be good, after I had to tell a story like that." she whispered. Loz opened his eyes.

"I need....out...of here." he wheezed.

"Their trying to help you get better. You're in a really sucky state right now."

"No...no..."

"What do you mean no?"

"Mako..."

"What? Look, you're on a stabilizing machine thing. What the heck would all these wires be here for?" she tried to keep her voice low.

"...Draining...me..." he said, his eyes pleading.

"_What?_"

"For..." he took a shaking breath. "...for mako."

"What in the hell? You can't get mako from a person. And besides, ShinRa isn't doing that anymore." Loz shook his head, more fervently this time. "I'll ask Reno. I know he's a Turk, but he's alright, a little sleazy but-"

"No...can't...trust.."

"Loz, you're just confused." It was now that Reno came back in. And for whatever reason, she realized that not once had he asked where Kadaj was. And when she saw him again the lock the door behind him, the last red flag came up.

"You know, this whole thing is really creepin me out." she said, carefully. "I'd like to go now."

"But we're not done." Yuffie frowned.

"I'll tell you where Kadaj is when we get outside."

"You actually don't have to tell me, at all." Officially skeeved out, Yuffie backed into the wall.

"I want to go now." Reno bowed his head.

"Kid, I'm sorry. But this is my job." he pulled out his rod.

"Wha...what are you talking about?"

"You are just way too attached to this situation. We can't afford you backing out and warning Kadaj."

"I don't...know what you mean."

"Listen kid, I don't know where you're really standing with Kadaj, but it is in the best interest of the planet and in the rebuilding of the new ShinRa that he be either taken out of the picture, or used for the greater good."

It was then that Yuffie realized Loz had been telling the truth.

"You people are always throwing around things like 'best interest' and 'the greater good' but you wouldn't know what that was if it fell from the sky and smacked you in the face." Yuffie stepped away from the wall. "Tell me what you're doing to him you bastard, tell me that you ShinRa punks aren't back doing the same thing that got us all in this mess!"

"Yuffie..." Reno did look genuinely sorry, but he also had that same steely glare that all Turks had when they called themselves working toward the greater good. When they thought they were right, and almost helped destroy the planet, and _did _destroy a nation. A damn proud nation.

Yuffie old grudges came back with a surprising vengeance.

"Don't Yuffie me, I thought you were..." she sighed. With current things the way they were she couldn't help but link this betrayal to Kadaj's own. And frankly, she had had just about enough. How many snakes in the grass could there possibly be? Reno started coming toward her. Yuffie knew she was in it deep. She didn't have any weapons and even if she did Reno would undoubtedly best her in the current situation. She was an evasive fighter, and there was really no where to run.

"I couldn't stop this if I wanted to, okay? There are already Turks stationed at both Kadaj's and Yazoo's places, it's going to happen. But we just can't afford any screw ups, and knowing what you know-"

"So that's the only reason you agreed? So you could get me out of the way?"

"Just for right now. When we have all the remnants, you can go free."

"What are you gonna do to me, to them?" Yuffie watched as his rod started to sprout electric currents. "You really are draining them for mako." Reno froze, looked at the seemingly unconscious Loz. Reno turned back to Yuffie, frowning.

"Don't be stupid, you can't get mako from people."

"But you can get it from Sephiroth's remnants, I remember just as well as anyone he was pumped with the stuff. He was barely human." Yuffie shivered. "How are you doing it? No, I don't wanna know...you guy are sick!"

Reno seemed to give up the charade. She knew what was going on, and he knew he was going to catch hell for letting this happen. Yuffie tried to dodge him, but he got a hold of her and forced he back into the wall.

"That isn't my department. I just carry out orders." Yuffie struggled against him still.

"I don't care, this is just...wrong!"

"We're not hurting anyone. We're not taking energy from the planet, we're taking it from remnants no one will miss." he sighed. "We've got this new technology, it gets the mako right from the blood, ultra distilled. And we got a way to stretch it out indefinitely, you know what that means Yuffie?"

"It means that you people are still willing to do anything to get what you want y-"

"They're not human, you said it yourself."

"So it's okay to just use them like that?! Until they're what? Dead? I don't care how you put it, that's _freakin_' wrong!"

"This is gonna be our way to clean up the mess, Yuffie. Sometimes you have to make the hard choices. The remnants caused enough destruction and pain themselves, and I believe in karma. Don't you? They're monsters, and we've all seen it with our own eyes. You and AVALANCHE more than anyone. And I think it's about time they paid their debt to society."

"But it's not ever gonna be enough to make this okay. You're just the same as them." she said, out of breath from struggling. A shadow passed over Reno's face and he brought his rod up where she could see it.

"It doesn't matter, it's already in motion and after this happens, no one will be able to stop it." He held up her chin with the hand holding the rod and she heard it buzzing by her ear. "I really am sorry it worked out this way, but I gotta do my job. You'll wake up I about two hours." Yuffie just glared, finding she couldn't even struggle now he had her so tight.

All she could see was the blue of his eyes and the blue of the current and she was expecting her world to go black at any second, but it didn't. She didn't see Loz slowing reaching up and behind his head with his two burned arms, or see him push his bed from against the wall with all the strength he could muster. With him still lying in the bed, Loz's bed came flying from the wall and right into Reno's back.

And when the redhead went down she grabbed for that electric rod, and got a good hit in. Reno tried to get up, but the electric shot was making it hard for him. Still wary though, she pushed him down again with her foot and delivered another electric blow with his weapon. Reno was suddenly back on the ground, down for the count.

After seeing that he was indeed out, she ran over to Loz who had ripped out some of the wires with what he did, and nearly flipped the whole bed over.

"Will you die if I take all these wires out?" Yuffie asked, still breathing hard. "Loz?"

"...No..do it.." And Yuffie ripped away all those wires like her life depended on it.

"We gotta get the hell outta here." she said, ripping away the last of the wires. "And I have to go see who's living in that house with Kadaj, I just hope it isn't who I think it is...if it is though, I don't even know..." Yuffie was fuming, because it Sephiroth was really living in that house with Kadaj, it pretty much meant he _was_ up to something awful. Why else would he have lied about it?

"Can you walk?" Loz just looked at her. "Of course you can't...Geez...um..." she looked at Loz and then she looked at Reno and then at the bed. "I got it." Rushing over to the unconscious Reno, she rifled around in his pockets until she got his keys. She made quick work of the doors, but before she could get out, in one of Reno's other pockets, his phone rang.

But it did nothing to wake him up, and she wasn't sure if she should risk it, but she had a feeling that call had something to do with the situation. Creeping over to him as the phone continued to ring, she carefully dragged the phone out of his pocket with just the very tips of her fingers. And as soon as she had it in her hand, she flipped it open as quietly as she could. Holding it up to her ear, she was immediately assaulted by a very loud, clearly stressed female voice.

"Reno, have you done it yet?" there was some labored breathing here, "You need to get over to the duplex ASAP, something's happened to Rufus. You got it? ASAP, we're all leaving our posts." then a click, apparently signaling the end of the conversation. And flipping the phone closed, she pocketed Reno's keys, and rolled Loz the hell out of there.

By the time one of the guards had set the alert over Rufus though, Kadaj was already a ways away, headed to someone who he thought needed to know about what he had found out. Because right now, Kadaj was certain that the voice he'd heard had been his mother, and he was certain that ShinRa was hiding something of her in their labs. He was certain of it, and he need to tell Yazoo. So that's where he headed.

Getting Loz into the car was hard, not matter how much muscle mass he'd lost. But eventually she got him into the passenger seat, belted him in and got in the driver's seat. The thing was though, she didn't quite know how to drive, and it was raining even harder than before. Turning the key, she prayed to the gods that she didn't end up killing them both.

Though, as the engine rumbled and some of her wits returned she realized she didn't know where she was going to take him. She couldn't take him to the bar just yet, or her place, or (yeah right) Vincent's. But then she realized some where she definitely could take him, and now that the Turks were apparently leaving their posts...yeah that sounded like the best option.

So she steered carefully away from the curb, and set out to find Yazoo's house. Getting there actually wasn't as hazardous as she would have thought, the streets were pretty empty, probably because of the weather, so she just tried to keep a steady speed, and an eye out of small children. When she got to the place she figured it was, she realized that she didn't have the time or the strength to get him up all those stairs. She looked at Loz, who looked like he might die any second he was in such bad shape.

"You're gonna have to stay here for a second. I'm gonna go get Yazoo." Loz said nothing, only stared ahead. Yuffie nodded, and got out of the car. Once out she stared up at the apartment, looked around at the street. The last time she was here...

._.."Nothing. And that's all you are to me. I don't know what you've dreamt up, but whatever it is, it's wrong. All I want is for you to leave me alone, all I want is for you to just go away." _

But Yuffie tried to put it out of her head. This wasn't about her and Kadaj anymore, there were bigger things to be thinking about. And as she ascended the stairs to Yazoo's place it struck her that this might the most unselfish thing she'd ever done, and her father wouldn't believe it even if he saw it.

When she got to his door, she knocked until he opened up. A rather annoyed looking Yazoo opened up. Yuffie didn't bother to come in, she needed to take care of this fast.

"Loz is downstairs in my car." Yazoo froze in the doorway.

"_What?_"Yuffie rolled her eyes.

"Loz. Is downstairs. In my car." she made a wild motion with her hands. "Long story short, ShinRa is up to their old tricks again and I don't like where it's going. Loz is severely messed up and they were keeping him in the ShinRa labs, sucking the mako from him or something with this new technology that is straight out of a science fiction movie! I don't even know, but right now I have to go check Kadaj's house, because if Loz isn't living there, then I'm pretty sure who is, and I don't want to die because I _like_ the planet! And if it is who I think it is , then that means I gotta tell Cloud and the gang and then that means I gotta tell them about Kadaj and holy crap I'm gonna die anyway because they're gonna kill me." She took a deep breath. "I hate my life." Yazoo only watched her from the doorway.

"Show me to Loz."Yuffie nodded and they both headed downstairs and outside into the pouring rain. When Yazoo saw Loz sitting in the car, he visibly paled.

"What happened to him?"

"They found him like that, burned up with the ShinRa storage." she said, unlocking the car. She paused. "And I just wanted to know....if...is it..." Yuffie struggled to say the words. There was always something about that middle brother that made her a bit uneasy. "... are you trying to take over the planet again... or destroy it?" Yazoo's hair was flattened and wet against his face, he frowned.

"Does it look like we are?" He looked to Loz, motioned to himself. " Look at us. We couldn't, even if we wanted to." Yuffie felt guilty.

"Sorry. So... does that mean Kadaj isn't either?" she pulled her hair away from her face, and Yazoo sighed.

"I couldn't tell you what my little brother is doing." Yuffie nodded, helped Loz out of the car and to his feet.

"Right well, here you are. I would help and stuff, but I gotta go." Yazoo took his brother, but looked like he wasn't quite stable either. "Oh and...the Turks know where you live and they're coming for you. You and Loz...should find somewhere else to stay." Yazoo nodded, watched her get back into the car.

"Thankyou." Yuffie glanced back at them, and drove away from the curb, off to see who was really living in that house. Which regardless of her intentions, was not a very smart thing to do.

About a half an hour after Yuffie drove away, Kadaj arrived. This time the stairs were a lot easier on him. When he got to Yazoo's door he stood there for a few minutes before actually knocking. Even with this news he was hesitant. There was no reason Yazoo should not be happy about it, but he seemed so completely changed Kadaj really couldn't be sure.

When Yazoo answered, he was breathing as if he'd come from a long run. Kadaj wondered why. But he didn't ask, he simply brushed passed his brother into the apartment.

"There's something I have to tell you." Kadaj said, too overtaken to notice how worn out Yazoo was, that he was wet from rain too. Yazoo closed the door and turned around, eyes bright under his dyed hair.

"Likewise." Kadaj took of his jacket and put it on the chair, smiled in that mad way Yazoo hadn't seen a very long time.

"I will redeem myself. _We _can redeem ourselves." Yazoo frowned.

"What are you on about Kadaj?"

"I had a very interesting talk with the president today, and it has been revealed to me that they have something of our mother in their labs." Kadaj said.

"How can you be certain?" Yazoo asked, looking intense. A shadow passed over Kadaj's face.

"I'm not completely certain. But what does it matter Yazoo, we have a chance to prove-"

"_Stop it_, Kadaj." Yazoo snapped. And even that time ago when Yazoo had called him a fool, he didn't look as angry as he did now. "Why can't you just accept this, and move on?" Kadaj scowled.

"Because we owe everything to her Yazoo, everything. Everything we are is-" Yazoo came forward.

"We are not just remnants Kadaj. We are not just Jenova's sons. Maybe it started out that way..." Yazoo spoke calmly, purposefully. "But, we're different now. We have become different. Just look at yourself, you're different."

"I am not. You don't understand, I have to...I have to..." Kadaj left off, suddenly lost in what he was about to say. He held his head. There are times when the passion driving a person is so strong it overwhelms the reason, compensates when the reason has long been dead. And in the breaks of passion, there's nothing. Kadaj was suddenly having a rather horrifying moment of nothing, and Yazoo looked on with sympathy.

"Kadaj, you know the truth. It isn't pleasant but it's the truth. I loved her just as you did, and yearned for the reunion, just as you did." Kadaj looked up at him.

"You're just weak Yazoo, you always have been. You weren't strong enough to understand....you can't be strong without mother's presence." It was almost like the younger remnant was talking to himself, trying to convince himself. Yazoo motioned to him.

"Come. I want to show you a result of out mother's love." Kadaj frowned, but followed, albeit a little reluctantly. Yazoo lead him to the only bedroom in the house, which was only furnished with a mattress on a dusty floor. But on that mattress...Kadaj ran forward, knelt at Loz's side.

"Loz!" Kadaj looked on at his older brother in absolute horror. Immediately his blood started to boil.

"Look at him, Look at us Kadaj. Is this what a mother's love feels like?" Kadaj began to shake.

"You can't blame her for-" Kadaj wasn't sure he even believed his own words now.

"We certainly can Kadaj." Yazoo leaned against the doorway. "We were all misguided. And one way or another, we have all paid for it. We owe her _nothing._" Kadaj kept looking at his older brother, and he couldn't help the anger, the guilt... "I know it seems strange to think of living a life where she is not our one objective, our everything. Both Loz and I have felt that too, have felt...purposeless. But you create your own purpose brother, you make your own way."

And in a way as sudden and stark as the lightning outside, Kadaj realized that it made sense. He looked up at Yazoo.

"What happened to Loz?"

"He was discovered like this in one of the ShinRa storage rooms, and apparently since then, they kept him in the labs, tried to extract mako from his blood." Kadaj saw red.

"_What?"_ Then Kadaj started to connect the dots. The voice that was so unlike his mother's, all that emotion that came along with it, _help _and _lab_... it had all been Loz. Not his mother. Loz. And for some reason he started laughing. Yazoo looked at him like he was mad.

"And they're after all of us now." Yazoo sighed.

"How did you find all this out?" Kadaj asked. Yazoo considered his little brother, smirked.

"Yuffie told me." You could have knocked Kadaj over with a feather.

"What did you say?"

"I said, Yuffie told me. Right after she dropped off Loz. She _rescued_ him." Yazoo almost laughed, Kadaj's face was so priceless. Kadaj closed his mouth. "I know, I don't believe it either."

Kadaj stood up. His thoughts racing.

"She was here?"

"She was at the door, but she had to go quickly, she actually said she was going to your house."

"But...I left that house, she doesn't know where I live now."

"You left?"

"I couldn't deal with Sephiroth anymore." Yazoo smiled appraisingly, but then his smile fell.

"So Sephiroth still lives there?" Kadaj nodded, but then went completely still.

"And she's headed there...now..._shit_, that stupid girl!" Kadaj's stomach dropped into his feet, and he wasted no time. He rushed out of the room, out the door, down the stairs and into the rain, without so much as grabbing his jacket. He hoped she would be wily enough not to get herself killed before he got there.

But when he arrived at the house it was deadly quiet, and pitch black with the night. They rarely used the lights when he'd lived there and apparently Sephiroth was still the same way. Kadaj honestly wondered how Sephiroth had healed over the past month, how long it had taken for him to realize he had left the house.

He stepped deeper into the house, scanning silently. Everything was as it was when he left it. Everything was quiet, but something was not right. And he discovered what it was when he stepped into a spot of moonlight in the center of the room. There was something on the floor and as he neared it, he realized it was a figure. The rain suddenly got much louder in his ears, but not loud enough to mask the heart now high in his throat. He knelt by the figure, and didn't realize until he saw the short black hair fallen over two closed eyes, that were almond shaped, black as the night when they were open, he didn't realize until this moment how much this possibility frightened him.

She wasn't moving.

"Yuffie." he said, but didn't touch her. She still wasn't moving. At all. And then he heard soft footsteps coming out of the darkness ahead of him. He looked up to see Sephiroth emerge from the shadows, a white smiling face with two gleaming green eyes.

"Welcome home, Kadaj."

A/N: Okay, so now here's the part where you guys really hate me. A cliffhanger. Sorry, I had to do it. But I do have some of the next chapter already mapped out, so if the plans stay with me, I should have the next one out in a more sane time frame. I really am sorry about the wait, but I had a real block with this one for a while. I won't give up on it though, because you guys are just too great. Thanks for the support and the push. Oh, and if you didn't know already, I have super revised this story. As in, all the chapters. See you next time. Soon hopefully.)


	19. Full Stop

Kadaj raised his eyes to meet Sephiroth's, moving his thumb to find the soft pulsepoint on her wrist. Her skin was as cold as the moonlight at his back, but she was clearly alive. He looked at her again, wondered what she could have possibly been thinking.

"Stupid girl." He said softly, as he rose to his feet and stepped over her.

"What a romantic picture you two make. It warms my heart." Sephiroth said.

"Good. At least it would've felt some kind of warmth before I cut it out." Kadaj said flatly, as Sephiroth's smile spread into an outright grin.

"Your posturing is very entertaining, but I don't have time for games. You haven't held up your part of the deal and we are no closer to reaching mother." Sephiroth said, and almost as if it were some kind of reflex, hysterical laughter tore wildly from Kadaj's throat.

"The only pretense here is yours. You…" he laughed, "you must think me a great fool! But I suppose," he suddenly sobered, " that I have made myself look very much like one." Kadaj looked to one of the large windows. "But no more." He unsheathed his sword. "I know everything, Sephiroth. I know everything and I can't believe that I was once jealous…of _you." _He could see that Sephiroth was watching him closely.

"You're going to have to find a new puppet." He swallowed. "And as for mother, you can have her."

"And what will you have then Kadaj, what will you be?" Sephiroth said smugly, and Kadaj stilled as his brother's words struck him right in the heart, in the heart of all the convictions he used to hold, the heart of his fear of what would be left for him now that he didn't have them anymore. This was the question. The one Yazoo had told him that he could answer on his own.

"I'll…" he started, but the hesitation proved to be just enough time for Sephiroth to vanish, and when he looked up he found someone else standing in Sephiroth's place and a very familiar shuriken flying towards his face. He managed to sidestep it just in time for it to graze his cheek, and as he brought his hand up to the cut, he watched the shining star spin back. His eyes followed its path back into a very unexpected hand.

She stood deadly still, arm extended high in the moonlight. She was looking directly at him, shadows around her eyes.

"What the hell are you doing?" There was no reply. "This is my battle to fight, all you need to do right now is run." She was still silent even as she ran towards him, star still in hand. His eyes moved from the gleam of her star to her leg which swiftly kicked out towards his stomach once she was close enough, but he moved just in time to completely evade it.

"Yuffie." He said, bewildered. After she tried to strike him again, he grabbed her by the shoulders and with some trouble managed to subdue her. Holding her arms together in front of her, he looked into her eyes, her… green eyes. He blinked.

"No." He thought back to all the children drinking in the water in the forbidden forest, how he'd urged them on. He thought about their still bodies in the water, green eyes like his. She was polluted with Jenova's life water like they all had been, the stigma. He willed her eyes to go back to their own dark color, for her to snap out of it, but he knew that was just wishful thinking. He spun around on his heel. "Sephiroth, what did you-"

But all of his words were lost when he felt the length of Masamune sink into his stomach. He could only keep thinking that he needed to keep a grip on his sword no matter what, even though his vision was going black. He saw a vision of his brothers, Yazoo with his brown hair that still looked a bit like tinsel, Loz with his burns and skinny, broken frame. He saw Yuffie, crying under the streetlights and he couldn't believe that it might end like this.

_I knew there would still be a time when you would need me. I'm sure you knew this too, didn't you my son?_

Mother?

He had never seen his mother, he'd only ever heard her voice and so this time as he felt himself fall to his knees, he was surprised to glimpse tendrils of silver hair, carried on a liquid current. _Mother._

_Let me in Kadaj, I'll make sure you get what you've always deserved._

Her voice was as tender as he'd always needed to hear it, and he didn't know if he could fight it. He could almost feel her arms around him, he could touch the dream of a reunion he'd never been able to achieve, he could smell…that stench.

He could smell flowers.

He could see green eyes, and he could feel two hands on his stomach where Sephiroth's sword had gone through.

_You can do this Kadaj. _

_I don't need your help_, he thought, pushing her hands away with the musical jangle of her bracelets. She instead took his hand and put them on her stomach.

_You can stop this, _she said_. You can end this, but you're going to need help. _He looked down to her stomach where his hands lay, watching the slow spread of blood through the pink fabric of her dress.

_I did this. _He said, soberly. She shook her head.

_No, you're no longer a part of the man who did this. You can do something different._

_Something…different?_

He could hear the clamour of his mother's voice screaming for him to ignore the meddlesome flowergirl, but both voices were already becoming very faint. He could only hear his own voice, and very distantly, rain.

Suddenly all he could hear were his own thoughts. Coming to, he realized Sephiroth had managed to vanish again. The room was empty, except for the moonlight. He looked around for Yuffie and found her standing in the far corner of the room, considering the shuriken in her hands. But once he got to his feet, she immediately started off towards his direction, all legs and dead green eyes.

She hurled shuriken after shuriken and they all only barely missed, as he tried to steady himself on his feet. Her hand was shockingly accurate, and he wondered if she could not always be so swift. Undoubtedly, the poison of the stigma had shut her up and given her a singular focus, which he found made all the difference. And though he still could not take her seriously, as one of her stars hit him at the base of his spine, he realized he might have to change his tune.

He swept his sword through the air in a lax, experimental swing which cost him, as he suddenly found his neck securely in the crook of her arm. Reaching up to simply remove her, he found that her skinny grasp worked very much in favor for her.

But he didn't care what stigma she had, he was stronger than her and he should easily be able to remove her. The thing was, he couldn't seem to, especially with the gaping wound in his stomach. As she pressed her forearm into his windpipe, he brought the hilt of his sword up and pushed it hard into her stomach. She went tumbling off of him and he immediately tried to grab hold of her to subdue her again, but she was more slippery than even in her normal state (which was saying something) and he couldn't seem to even catch her.

Now, pissed off and injured, he ran after her with his sword at the ready. He was running out of breath faster than usual, which was one stumbling block, the other was that he had never been in pursuit _without_ the intent to kill. He was reluctant to take off his kid gloves, because it was a very real possibility he might kill her by accident and he…he didn't want that.

Deciding he didn't want to think about that admission too long, he started down dark corridor she'd disappeared in and almost immediately fell to his face as he tripped on an outstretched leg he hadn't seen. When he got up she was attacking him from behind, and when he turned around, a surprisingly forceful right hook landed in his eye. An elbow to his jaw followed, which sent him stumbling into the wall.

"Goddamnit Yuffie, my patience is-" he ducked an outright slap and caught her hand. But she wasn't going down without a fight and she hoisted her weight onto him unexpectedly and knocked them both to the ground. His grip around that one hand was lost and she was gone towards the front of the mansion, his sword in hand.

With an infuriating flash of déjà vu he ran after her again, finding she had merely stopped in the middle of grand hall where she lay some minutes before. Seeing him, she charged with his sword, handling it one would handle a staff or a blunt object. Managing to get in between one of her wild swings, he made to knock the sword from her grasp. But she was wilier when silent and as he took his sword back into his grasp she pushed his arms back, sending the sharp edge of the sword into in shoulder. Cursing, he quickly shoved his sword back in its sheathe and swiftly grabbed both her arms in his anger, propelling her to the far end of the room. She lost her balance then and he ran to where she lay and grabbed her ankle and dragged her towards the doors that led to the garden, figuring he could keep her locked out as he figured out how to properly handle it.

He dragged her out into the rain and she fought more ferociously the farther he dragged her. She fought like the rain was…acid. And then he remembered. He pulled her further out and she fought harder, but halfway into the garden she stopped struggling. He stopped dragging her, and thought of that woman who smelled like flowers. Healing Rain.

Healing rain that was once like acid to him. But not anymore, for he stood out in it and just felt the water. No stigma being painfully ripped away from him, not even the presence of his mother. He breathed in, turned his eyes downwards to where Yuffie was opening her eyes. And they were now as dark as he always remembered them. On his next breath his vision went blurry around the edges.

"What the….what's happening?" she muttered.

"You've been possessed with the life force of my mother." He said, and she jumped as if she had just noticed him there. She scrambled to get up and nearly fell down again, the affects of the possession apparently still wearing off.

"What're you….how are you…" She looked around, started backing away.

"Yuffie." He said, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

"No, I thought that you…I came in right through the window and now I'm in this garden with you, and _Sephiroth_…you and _Sephiroth-" _Kadaj tried to grab her arm but she slapped his hand away. "Don't, do you even know what those ShinRa punks are doing now? You know what, I don't know why I even bother, this is so _stupid _and now I'm probably going to die-"

Kadaj finally grabbed her arm and she stopped, tried to pull her arm away.

"Let go of me!"

"No, if you just listen-"

"I've listened okay? I got it, I'm leaving you alone like you wanted." Yuffie hated the way her voice nearly cracked. "I'm not here for you, I'm here because I see the same things happening again, and if I have anything to do with it, they won't." She shook her head. "I can't believe this whole time, you and Sephiroth, no…no I can believe it, you-"

"Damnit, be quiet!" he said, and she stopped, crossed her arms. "I am no more working with my traitorous older brother than you are." He said and Yuffie blinked.

"Yeah? Well, _that_ sure isn't Loz living in your house. I know that I saw Sephiroth, you going to deny that too?"

"No. I'm not." He said through gritted teeth, and when she went to talk again he put a hand over her mouth. "Sephiroth is here and alive, and if you don't listen,___we_ wont be." He said and Yuffie's frown dissolved as realization dawned, though there was still a bit of suspicion in her eye.

"You're not trying to destroy the planet or take it over?" she asked, watching Kadaj closely, the hand holding the gaping wound on his stomach, the shadows his eyelashes cast on his pale, pale, cheeks. He looked a step away from death.

"No." He took a breath. "Nothing about this planet is worth the effort to destroy, or remarkable enough to conquer." He said, and Yuffie, despite herself, believed him.

Suddenly the garden around them erupted completely into flames. They both stilled, and Kadaj looked around for his brother but there was nothing. On each side of them though, he saw summons rising from the burning flowers, black hulking shapes.

Yuffie looked horrified, but he was interested to see she had her stars at the ready regardless. As all three large, six legged animals advanced on them, Kadaj drew his own sword, watched one the far left launch itself at Yuffie. High above them, Kadaj could see the dark, billowing descent of his older brother, who apparently couldn't pass up the chance to make a dramatic entrance.

When Sephiroth touched down to the ground, Kadaj felt Yuffie freeze just long enough for one of the monsters to overtake her. He swallowed back the blood in his mouth, looking to where Sephiroth stood and to his side where Yuffie struggled. He knew paying more attention to either could possibly get him killed.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Yuffie fall, and her ninja stars scatter. Another monster was approaching but he was reluctant to turn his back to Sephiroth, who was smiling like the madman he was, also aware of the choice that lay before Kadaj.

Then, just like that he turned his back on Sephiroth and speared one of the dog-like monsters right through its heart, and Yuffie rolled from underneath the carcass with a look of both disgust and wonder.

"Uh..Thanks."

Before he could turn around, Sephiroth had him by his collar and was dragging him back into the thicker part of the burning garden. He wasn't strong enough to fight it, and before he could tell Yuffie to run, she was already heading fast through the doors leading into the house, two of the monsters following close on her heels.

Kadaj was sure that this was going to be it. It wasn't as if he had any reservations about dying. He had done it once, and be rudely ripped out of his comfortable non existence. Who wouldn't want to die when Sephiroth was dragging you through the dirt and fire as you bled to death, waxing poetic about familial loyalty?

Kadaj realized that he had found his purpose. And that purpose was that there was no purpose. When he said this Sephiroth just laughed, told him not to be so bleak.

"I'm synthesizing a new materia Kadaj. Imagine the essence of both myself and mother."

"I'd rather not."

"Well neither would I, mother is after all only a leech, drawing her power from the control of her sons." Kadaj was stunned.

"You…knew?" Kadaj asked, striken. Sephiroth stopped walking and let go of Kadaj's collar. Kadaj fell lifelessly to the hot earth. Turning his head, he realized the house itself was going up in flames. Sephiroth looked down on him.

"Of course I knew, I've known her the longest. I only hoped you would remain ignorant long enough so that I may see my own triumph over this planet." Sephiroth sighed. "A shame." Kadaj struggled to his feet, he shook because of the blood loss, he shook because he realized now that he had only been helping Sephiroth, and that his older brother had never intended on reuniting him with their mother.

"Yazoo was right, about everything." Kadaj said, shaking his head. Sephiroth frowned.

"Yazoo talks too much. I liked him more when he properly embodied my silence."

"We have nothing to do with you anymore."

"You only ever existed _because_ of me remnant. But all is well, I only need myself for what will follow." Sephiroth smiled.

"What are you talking about?" Kadaj asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Did you know that you could garner raw mako from the blood of the afflicted?" Sephiroth lifted his hands up, turned his wrists outwards. "The afflicted being me and you, and of course your brothers. I suppose SOLDIER would work too, but the difference between them and us, is the purity. That is why, the leftover dogs of ShinRa did what they did to Loz."

"You…knew about that?" Kadaj said through gritted teeth. Sephiroth laughed.

"It was a consequence of my own actions that it even happened little brother. Loz was the first of you to suspect that I was living too, so he thought that he would play hero and find me and kill me himself. He failed. If you've seen him lately, I'm sure his appearance speaks for itself. One thing you remnants never seem to understand is that even altogether, you can only be just as good. The sum is always greater than its parts." Kadaj thought back to the charred insides of ShinRa storage, and Loz's burned skin. It didn't take much to put it together, even looking around him his older brother's affinity for fire was apparent.

"So the ShinRa dogs found your dear brother Loz, and commenced to garner raw mako from his blood." Sephiroth said, and Kadaj was completely appalled. Who was Sephiroth to talk about familial loyalty? "It gave me inspiration, and so I did the same with my own blood. Jenova's traces can only be erased to an extent, and so here," Sephiroth held up a strange cloudy materia, "exists the threads of both my and Jenova's life force and thoughts." Kadaj thought of all the materials he'd brought to Sephiroth. "And I couldn't have done it without your help."

"That is only true for the dead." Kadaj said. "Your thoughts and life force can only exist in that if you have joined the lifestream." Sephiroth smiled.

"Precisely." And right then and there, Sephiroth drew Masamune and put it through his own heart. Kadaj stared, mouth agape. He watched as his brother fell to his knees, black wing spread, dark energy swirling overhead. A bright circle was opening above them, and Sephiroth himself was disintegrating into the earth and sky with so many bright lights, Kadaj could only think that it must be the lifestream.

He stood there for as long as it took for Sephiroth to fully die. And when that finally happened and the lights cleared, there was no body. But there was a shimmering materia in place where Sephiroth's body should've been. Kadaj went forward and picked it up, feeling everything within him stir just as the touch of it. He vowed to make sure the wrong hands couldn't possibly get a hold of it.

Then. holding his stomach and swallowing another mouthful of blood, he left the fire garden. He knew his way back to Yazoo's place, he just wasn't sure he could make it. That he had stayed alive this long was surprising. Stepping inside the mansion itself, which was quickly catching fire too, he could see rain outside the windows.

He knew the possibility of making it through that was very slim. Watching the rain, he thought about his purpose once more. He thought of all the things he cared about, and having lost so many of his convictions, the number was much smaller. But Yazoo and Loz were among that number, and he thought that it was good enough.

Suddenly, he literally stumbled upon something on the mansion floor. Looking down through the smoke, he could see that it was a _someone. _There at his feet, lay Yuffie in a pile of heal materia. And he knew then that she hadn't run when he'd told her to. She never listened to him, after all.

This hardheaded girl had tried to be heroic, as if heal materia, she and him could defeat Sephiroth.

"Stupid girl." He said again, softly as he lifted her into his arms. Clearly just the summons had been too much for her. But he knew from experience that her spirit could not be crushed, even you were trying really hard. And he had tried. Healing them both, but not really feeling any better afterwards, he headed out into the rain with the ninja in his arms.

He knew something about his purpose extended beyond his brothers.

Hours later when Yuffie awoke, it was in strange bed. Sitting up abruptly enough to make herself dizzy even in the dark, she looked around the room, spotted a line of light underneath what must've been the door leading into the room.

She could hear that it was still raining outside, and creeping out of the rather musty smelling bed that was really just a mattress on the floor, she went to stand by the door. Putting her ear against it, she listened. The first voice was hushed, but it was very clearly Kadaj's. With a flash of déjà vu of being a captive so long ago, she stepped away from the door and put a hand over her mouth.

Mind going into overdrive, she looked for a way out but there were no windows. The she stopped. The areas on her arms and legs where the beasts had scratched and bitten her were all healed, and Kadaj had said that he wasn't interested in doing anything to the planet, so what was she doing?

Still, she wasn't even quite sure that all hadn't been a dream, and even if it hadn't been, there was no reason for her to anywhere near Kadaj anymore. Yuffie nodded, yeah that was best.

She smoothed down her damp clothes and opened the door, unprepared to find three familiar remnants sitting at Yazoo's small wooden table. All three looked up at her. Yazoo smiled. Loz smiled as best he could, and Kadaj looked back away.

"You're awake. Would you like something to eat?"

And though Yuffie wanted nothing more than to run out of the door and never have to burn under those green eyes like she was now, her stomach pulled her forward and she went and sat down.

And as expected, dinner with them was indescribably awkward.

"Sephiroth was using the same procedure they were using on Loz?" Yazoo said, lowing his fork down to his plate.

"Yes, on himself. To create this." Kadaj held up the strangest materia Yuffie had ever seen. She watched the colors in it shift from green to black, and when Kadaj caught her staring scowled and put it back in his pocket. Yuffie shoveled more rice into her mouth, and looked at Loz who hadn't said much of anything, but just mostly stared into his own plate and struggled to lift his own fork to his mouth without spilling.

She felt sorry for him, and also for Yazoo whose face was characteristically stone, but with a few noticeable cracks. She could tell that he felt a lot of the pain Loz felt, almost like they were one person.

"But why?"

"I'm not sure. But I'll make sure no one will ever find out." Kadaj shook his head. "Was I ever that mad? That…verbose? Gaia, he never shuts up, I can still hear his voice in my head, taunting-"

"I'd get that checked out, voices in your head are a sure sign of insanity." Yuffie interjected, earning a terrible, terrible silence. Yazoo cleared his throat and shifted his plate on the table.

"Don't dwell on it Kadaj. He is gone now." Yazoo said and Yuffie wanted to say that it was just a joke but realized that considering the situation insane jokes probably weren't all that funny.

"Yes, you're probably right."

"I don't think so guys." Yuffie nearly shriveled when three pairs of green eyes fell on her. "I mean, come on, we all know that staying dead isn't something Sephiroth's great at, or any of you really." There was silence. "Really, I don't wanna be that person but...do you really think that's it?"

"Be quiet. As usual you speak only out of ignorance." Yuffie stopped, frowned.

"_I'm _ignorant? I knew Sephiroth before you were even a thought or a larvae or whatever the hell Vincent said you were," she pointed her finger, "he was murdering people long before he was insane, and it was _Wutai_ that paid before he went crazy in the mountains. I'm ignorant when sixteen years down the road I have to play queen and pick up the mess he and ShinRa left? I'm Ignorant when two years ago, three silver haired man came back in his place and surprise, surprise Sephiroth's not really dead? It never ends easy, _ever."_

"You're a queen?" Loz said, breathing hard with the effort. Yuffie blinked, coming back to herself.

"I…" she hadn't meant to go as far to mention that but it was too late. "When, my dad dies, yeah."

"Princess then." Loz said, smiling as wide as his burns would allow. "I read…" he breathed. "I read a book once…about that." Yuffie looked into his eyes, still the most youthful out of all of them.

"Just don't call me princess, and we'll be fine."

"You never mentioned that, why not?" Yazoo interjected, his razor sharp gaze rather unnerving.

"I just…it's not important."

"Really?"

"Really, can we change the subject?" she snapped, and she was grateful for Yazoo's quiet understanding when he actually did. But Kadaj was not so kind.

"Does it have anything to do with why you choose not to go home?" Yuffie met Kadaj's steel gaze, disbelieving that he remembered their conversation from so long ago.

"I don't want to talk about it." She said, heaping more meat onto her plate.

"Don't you want to see your father?" Yuffie stopped.

"Don't talk about my father." She said pointing her spoon at his face. He didn't flinch.

"Is that a sore spot?" he asked softly, and it was all she could do not to launch herself across the table.

"Your. _Mother_."

"Don't talk about her." He rose from his seat.

"Why, is that a sore spot?" she said, rising from her seat as well.

"She, is a traitorous, self interested presence, who was only ever interested in using her sons as tools. What do you think?" he said, and the air hung tense between them. Yuffie was stunned, not at all expecting him to have said something like that. Things really _were _different. When Kadaj left the table, Yuffie looked at Yazoo and Loz, who looked just as troubled.

They had all figured out about Jenova what everyone on the outside could see immediately, and Yuffie averted her eyes. She was sorry she had even brought it up. Why did she always end up looking like the ass?

About a half an hour later, when she could swallow her pride, she stepped into the bathroom where Kadaj was standing in front of the mirror changing his bandages. He was really messed up.

"Leviathon, what happened to you?" she asked, Kadaj didn't look at her.

"You did."

"What?"

"While you were full of Jenova's life force, you were some semblance of a ninja."

"_No,_ seriously?"

"Yes, seriously. Now get out." He said and Yuffie shut the door behind her.

"No." she said, and he just scowled. "I'm sorry okay, that really sucks about your mother." He didn't say anything, only shrugged his leather top all the way off, and started on the bandages on his stomach. "But you…" she shook her finger, "you are an ungrateful,_ confusing_, asshole."

"I think I've heard this before."

"Really, because I'm experiencing a whole hell of a lotta deju vu too, how bout that?" She swallowed. "Why didn't you just leave me in that burning house?" she said and Kadaj stopped, but said nothing. "Nothing? You have nothing to say? Then answer this, why did you come for me? That's right, Yazoo told me." There was still no answer. "Why do you keep on doing this to me? Is this some kind of sick joke or something? You say one thing and then you do another, and now I'm all screwed up because I'm so _stupid_ that I fall for it every time!" She began to feel the heat behind her eyes.

_Don't cry, don't cry_, she told herself.

"And even when all I want is _never_ to see your face again, there you are! And you're not just there, but your saving me or kissing me or something, and all I want to just to be away from you so I don't have to _feel_ this anymore!" she said, voice breaking. She swallowed and put a hand to her face, spinning around to find the doorknob so that she could leave and run far, far away. But a paler hand came over her head and rested hard on the door.

She could feel the solid plane of chest on her back.

"Don't you think that's what I want too?" he said, and she stared at the hand on the door that kept it closed, kept her from being able to open it and run away from him and everything he ever made her feel. He stood so close behind her, she began to have flashbacks. "Everything I have ever believed in, has been _crushed_." He breathed. She shuddered. "Blood was supposed to mean more than this, Yuffie. The path I followed was supposed to lead to somewhere more than this, but instead my path always finds yours. These are not the kind of jokes I play." His breath was hot on her neck.

"So now, I search for new purpose. Over and over, here I am with you. I might as well have voices in my head as many times as I see your face, or do something I don't understand. You want answers to your questions, I…" he sighed, "I have none. I've tried everything." he stepped away from her. "I don't understand why when all I want is for you to leave, to never have known you, what I want more is…" He left off and she turned around. He ran a hand through her hair.

"I should've killed you when I had the chance, " he said, a shadow passing over his face.

"Your scaring me." Yuffie said, smile tugging at the edge of her mouth. Kadaj rolled his eyes.

"I doubt that very much." And it was true. He'd been able to strike fear into any heart he chose to, but Yuffie through either stupidity or that spirit no one could crush had never been that heart. He realized that he wanted her heart for other things now, he knew that he wanted it all for himself. Because she had his in grip he knew he'd never be able to break, no matter what he did.

So he surrendered to the purpose the universe that forced upon him in the form of crude, clumsy ninja. He pushed her up against the door and took her face in his hands, like he'd done once before. And when he pressed his lips to hers, she bit into his lip and told him that she _would_ kill him if he wasn't for real.

And he told her that was fine, as he lifted her shirt over her head and tasted her down from her neck to her collarbone, because he was hungry and he remembered her lying nearly naked in his clothes that time ago. He remembered her that way, all the softness and the skin, and he wanted her that way immediately.

"Take your shorts off." He breathed against her shoulder, and she grabbed him by the hair and told him that he had to take something off first. Glaring, he threw his jacket to the floor, annoyed more than anything when he felt her hands on his arms and back. But as her uncertain hand moved to the curve of his back and towards the base of his spine, his breath caught.

He had never felt anything like it, and she grinned at his expression.

"I could go lower." She said, and he looked at her like he didn't care or understand. She frowned. She was a virgin too, but surely he knew that—

"Just take your clothes off." He said, eyes bright. "I need to see you." _Touch you, taste you._ Yes, there was another voice in his head, but it was all him, but another version of him that could only think about being with her, touching and seeing all he'd only wondered about. Looking into his eyes, she undid the first button and he suddenly stopped her, hooked his own fingers into her belt loops.

"What?" she said, as he brought their hips together again and kissed her on the mouth.

"I think it'll be better, if I undress you myself." He said, and she blinked.

"Okay." And so slowly, he pulled her shorts down, tips of his fingers skimming the side of her thighs in their descent. On his knees now, she stepped out of them and kissed above her knee, licked the inside. She giggled and he looked up, eyes dark. Raising an eyebrow, he kissed the inside of her thigh and stood back up. He got his finger underneath her bra strap.

"I want this off next." She frowned.

"No way. I get to take your pants off now."

"Really? Did I say you could?"

"Do you _know _me Kadaj?" He sighed.

"Fine." And she went about taking off the pants, though it was harder than it looked. It seemed that Kadaj liked being touched a lot less than he liked touching, and Yuffie wanted to change that. When she finally got his pants open, she realized that she really didn't know what she was doing and more importantly, that he didn't wear any underwear. It wasn't really surprising when she thought about it.

And so when she wrapped her hand around it, he had a rather entertaining violent reaction involving gasping and punching both his fist to the door.

"Gaia." He said sucking air through his teeth. She stroked again, and felt triumphant until he pulled her hands away and held them high above her head in one hand. The other hand tore both bra and panties away, sending them as scraps to the floor.

"I want all of you, princess." He said into her ear, and before she could tell him not to call her that, his fingers were sliding up the insides of her thighs, and she couldn't tell him not to do anything. She especially couldn't do that, when his fingers came upon her most intimate place, touching softer than she knew he was ever capable of.

"Does it feel good?" he asked, breathless in her ear. And she was choking on her own tongue, grinding into the soft, teasing pads of his fingers, and she just needed more of his touch, more of---

"Kadaj, I need—"

"What do you need?" he said, looking kind of evil, circling his fingers, kissing her neck.

"You_. Right now, oh god." _And it was apparently all she needed to say because he was lifting her up against the door, and she was wrapping her legs around him like she knew how. And he pushed into her without any 'are you sure's' but Leviathon, it really hurt, but then it didn't. It _really_ didn't.

She grabbed onto his shoulders, and he leaned his head into the crook of her neck, groaning through his teeth, and driving her hips back into the door over and over again. He knew he had never felt anything so good, never.

"Yuffie…." He groaned, knees going weak with the sensation.

"_Oh, God,_ Kadaj, don't drop me…" Her toes curled in the air. He laughed, and it sounded a little too maniacal to be normal.

"Say my name again, and I'll consider it, _fuck_…"

"Oh my god, you _bastard_,_ just do it harder_…" And when he did, it sent them both over the edge, and incidentally it _was_ his name that came out of her mouth. He let her down and she sprawled, a lifeless mess on the bathroom floor. He sat against the side of the tub.

He didn't bother with covering up, it seemed he was perfectly comfortable naked. But after about five or so seconds she was searching for her clothes.

"If I had known it was that good before, I might have kept you around in the first place." He said, watching her get up and use his jacket at a cover while she picked up her clothes.

"Wow, you're still such a jerk. You destroyed my underwear by the way." She said, sweeping aside the scraps of them with her foot.

"I'm sure you have more." He said as picked up her shirt and shirts and glanced out of the small bathroom window.

"Leviathon, _No_." she said, and he shrugged.

"I'll buy you more then." he said and suddenly she whipped away from the window, dropping his jacket and her own clothes in the process.

"No, we have to get out of here. Now." She picked up her shirt and threw it, and jumped into her shorts. Kadaj stood up, and Yuffie pulled him towards the window. When he looked out, he saw a shock of red hair, the man with sunglasses, and the two he'd tortured years ago. Turks. Turks entering the building.

Yuffie threw his jacket and pants to him, and he put them on.

"Kadaj, hurry up!"

"I've taken them down once before, it should be no problem now." He said, face dark. Yuffie stamped her foot.

"No, _no_ we're not doing that."

"Your instinct may be to run, but-" Yuffie slapped him on his chest.

"Loz can barely move, Yazoo doesn't look much better, and you have a _gaping hole_ in your stomach. And Reno's going to kick my ass after I stole his car, _let's go."_

Kadaj was silent, but went over to open the door. Yazoo and Loz were already on their feet.

"You heard?" he asked and Yazoo nodded. Yuffie's eyes went wide.

"They heard?" she asked.

"Apparently."

"So they heard the…other stuff too?" Yuffie covered her face with her hands. Kadaj shrugged.

"Probably." Yuffie glared at him.

"Oh great," she said avoiding Loz's wolfish grin, and Yazoo's perpetually perceptive gaze. " Okay, and now we really need to go, I don't know why I didn't think of this, I-" She stopped when she heard footsteps outside the door. Kadaj stepped forward, and Yazoo and Loz lifted their heads as if it were some kind of reflex. It was clear to Yuffie that she was witnessing some kind of silent exchange between the brothers, and before she could get to tapping her foot, Yazoo was taking her and Loz's hands and leading them to the bathroom.

"Kadaj-" Kadaj shook his head.

"Be silent now, and run. I know that you're capable of at least one of those."

"But-" He handed her the materia he had brandished at the table.

"Make sure this doesn't fall into the wrong hands." Yuffie bit her lip.

"You mean like mine?" Kadaj smirked.

"Precisely." He stepped away. "Now, get out."

And when Yazoo pulled her the remaining way to the bathroom, she could only look back at the image of the remnant she hated, needed and still couldn't stand. And as she put one leg through the window, she watched him wrap the bandages around himself tighter, and glance back at her with the same green eyes she'd too often tried to forget.

This time, she was going to remember. Falling into the streets below with Yazoo's hair flying in her face and Loz's hand securely in hers, she had a feeling that things would never be the same again. Above her, a door busted open and Kadaj drew his sword.

Their progress was slow, but with Kadaj holding the Turks off, they managed to make it into central Edge. The only safe place she could think of was her own apartment, and as they climbed the stairs she tried to think of what her next steps would be. But as it turned out, there would be a minor road block. The fact that her door was unlocked should've been some kind of clue.

But the moment she swung her door open with Yazoo and Loz standing at her sides, she met the eyes of not one but all of her teammates.

Cloud was the first one forward, and to say he looked unhappy might've been the understatement of the year.

"What the hell is going on here, Yuffie." He said, blue eyes dark, and behind her she heard Yazoo cock his gun and Loz shift on his feet. She felt her heart jump into her throat. She turned to the two brothers.

"I swear I didn't set this up, I swear." She said and Yazoo stepped protectively in front of Loz.

"I've already come to understand that there is no honor among thieves." He said, and Yuffie tried to get him to understand.

"The only fuckin people you owe a fuckin explanation to, is us." Cid said, gripping his staff so tightly his knuckles were white. She spun back around.

"I…guys…"

"Reno called us." Cloud interjected.

"We weren't going to come, but then Marlene told us everything," Tifa said, looking distraught. "Is it true?"

"You made my little girl, keep your disgusting secrets? What is going through your head!" Barrett said. Yuffie shook her head.

"No, you don't understand, it's not like-" she stopped, looked at Vincent. His face was unreadable, but his eyes did not move from her.

"I oughta ring your skinny little neck for what you did to all them children, you sick bastard." Barrett said, advancing on Yazoo who still hadn't lowered his gun. But Yuffie could see his arms shaking with the effort. Cloud moved his hand towards his sword.

"Stop!" Yuffie yelled and everyone did. She ran a hand through her hair. "I can explain, this isn't what it looks like and I know that when people say this isn't what it looks like it totally is, but I swear that this time it really isn't-"

"How are we supposed to believe you." Cloud said, some other emotion passing over his eyes. "This whole time you've known, do have any idea what could've happened? Do you have any idea, what could still happen because you-"

"Where's the other one." Cid asked, looking murderously at the men behind her. Her breath caught.

"What?"

"The other one, your boyfriend." Cid said, and Yuffie scowled.

"He's holding the Turks off, by himself. He's holding them so that we could get away, because the ShinRa dogs are up to no good again, big surprise. He's holding them off, even though all four of em are probably gonna _kill him_, or drag him off to do some sort of weird science or some shit."

"What are you going on about girl?" Barret said, interest piqued no doubt because of the 'ShinRa dogs'.

"They were holding Loz in what's left of the ShinRa labs, getting mako form his blood. Reno said they were gonna use it again, to rebuild their…empire."

The faces of her friends changed, if only a little bit. Tifa looked the most disgusted.

"Even if that was true, that doesn't explain why you're involved in this." Cloud said and Yuffie shook her head.

"It's a long story, like nineteen chapters long. Or something."

"Shorten it."

"It was two years ago." She didn't look at their faces, but she heard their reactions well enough. "I was heading to Edge and…Kadaj took my materia so I went after him and I didn't know he was insane or related to Sephiroth or anything, but he found out that I knew you and so he…kept me. He wanted me to lead him you, but I wouldn't."

Cloud looked like he couldn't believe it. Yuffie took a breath. "And then I don't know, I was stupid and I stopped taking all the chances I had to run away. After a while I didn't want to anymore, even though he was still a bastard, like…such as _bastard."_

"Why did you call anyone?" Tifa asked.

"I did." Yuffie shook her head. "I called Cid." Cid was slackjawed, remembering that phonecall he'd gotten late at night that sounded so crazy back then. "But then I didn't want help anymore, I thought I could change things, but he wanted that reunion thing so bad, Cloud, you know. And then he died, and I thought it was the end of that. I thought, I could just forget about that and forget about…him. God this sounds so stupid." Tifa's face softened.

"And then he came back, remember Cloud? I was with you. And when I went off to find him, I did." Yuffie looked up at him. "I'm sorry, really. I can't tell you why I didn't say anything. He seemed like a different person and I knew it was dumb but I had to see for myself, and he was different but he, he thought it was his fault or something. And he didn't want to see me, I'm pretty sure he hated me," she laughed, "and I hated him for making me do all that crazy shit. He was always telling me to go away, but I never did, and then he finally got his point across. And I just wished I'd never met him. That same night Reno saw us together."

"I found out the Turks knew about it too, that they were tracking all three of them. And I knew that something was up, because Kadaj lied and Reno told me that they were keeping Loz in the lab. He told me that he would show me, if I showed him where Kadaj was. So I did." She looked back at the brothers. "And I saw that sick shit they were doing to him in the labs, and Reno only just wanted to get me out of the way in the first place and he tried to put me out, but I got Loz and escaped. I knew there was someone else in Kadaj's house, I _knew _something was up." She looked at all her friends. "Sephiroth was there, alive."

Clouds face was one of complete shock.

"How?" He couldn't wrap his mind around it. Kadaj becoming Sephiroth was one thing. Sephiroth existing on his own was another.

"I don't know."

"They were working together."

"No, I don't know, well not then they weren't. Sephiroth tried to kill us both and-"

"_What?"_

"But I went to go get some heal materia, and Sephiroth went for Kadaj. He set the whole place on fire too, if think he has some serious pyromania issues to work out..."

"Oh my god." Tifa put her hands up to her mouth.

"And then he committed suicide."

That, got wide eyes from every single one of her friends.

"_What?"_

_ "_Kadaj told us about it, but listen to this, I don't think that's the end of it-"

"It never is." Cloud said, looking far away.

"Right, and Sephiroth was apparently going on about this materia that he synthesized full of…um…"

"Using the raw mako extracted form his own blood he has been able to create a material of his own. However, within the blood of myself and my brothers are the remnants of Jenova's thoughts and life force. Even in the absence of the stigma." Yazoo said, and everyone's attention shifted to him. It was then that Yuffie realized how Sephiroth must've put her under Jenova's influence. He'd cast on her, with the materia she held in her pocket.

"And about Kadaj?" Cloud asked.

"He told me, that he'd rather have nothing to do with this planet at all. And I…I believe him." Yuffie said.

"But that still doesn't make any sense, materia doesn't exist with the life force of the living." Tifa said, and then realization dawned, on everyone.

"But it does for the dead." Cloud said, and Yuffie pulled the materia out of her pocket and held it out in her hand. The colors in it were moving around faster now. "That was why he killed himself."

The room was abuzz with exclamations from the team, why did she have it, put it away, destroy it, how did she have it?

"Kadaj gave it to me when the Turks were coming, didn't want it tall fall into the wrong hands."

"So he gave it to you? Ifrit's fuckin' balls, that's always a great idea."

"Shut up Cid." Yuffie said, looking back at Vincent who still hadn't said a word. She needed him to understand. Cloud stepped forward.

"Listen we have to-"

He cut himself off when the door burst open and in came all four Turks. Rude threw Kadaj forward to the floor, and Yuffie could see that he was beaten and unconscious. But too his credit, every single one of the Turks looked almost as beaten. She rushed forward to his side, and glared hard at Reno, who was very clearly just as pissed off.

"Rufus ShinRa is dead. We're here to collect our payment." Reno said and Tseng put a hand up.

"Under the new law of the City of Edge, all three of you must come with us." Yuffie looked up from Kadaj's bruised face.

"What?" Tseng turned to regard Yazoo Loz and then her.

"All three of you." Yuffie stood up. Yazoo lifted his gun and the blonde female Turk seemed to visibly flinch.

"Me?"

"For conspiring."

"Bullshit, none of us are going anywhere!"

"You ShinRa dogs think you can just come here and—" Barrett came forward.

"You can take the hard way if you want, I actually prefer it that way—" Reno stepped out.

"Yuffie told us about your experiments, haven't you learned anyth- Tifa came forward.

Everyone started to bicker, and Yuffie took the chance to run towards her stash and find a heal materia and her big shuriken. Running it back to Kadaj she cast, and through the green light she saw Reno take out his rod, Barrett shake his fist, Cid advance on Rude and Tifa lay a hand on Cloud's shoulder. Kadaj opened his eyes, and above the din there was suddenly a loud screeching noise. Everyone silenced as from out of Yuffie's hand, rose the materia.

The lights flickered as the orb began to glow, and move higher into the air, blazing among the circle every person in the room had come to create.

"What the fuck is that?" Reno, Cid and Barrett all said nearly in unison. Then the materia started to move, fast. It took off by itself and everyone took off after the ball of light, down the stairs and into the dark open streets. Once out in the open, it dropped and dimmed, rolled into a nearby alley.

Kadaj, now standing conscious by her side, had a look on his face that she couldn't decipher. And then out from the alley came three men, three really familiar men.

The leader, a boy who looked exactly liked the one standing next to her, was holding the glowing materia. The three men stopped only feet away from them.

"_Hello_. We come in the name of Sephiroth." The one who was Kadaj smiled, and it was so mad Yuffie felt a collective shiver. The second Yazoo stepped forward, as did the second Loz. "This planet is his now, but there are a few things standing in his way. Do you know what those things are?"

"No, we're dying to know." Reno said, from the side of the crowd. Second Kadaj's smile was nasty.

"Well, it's all of you of course." Above them a bright circle opened up in the sky. Second Kadaj sighed. "I'm tired of talking, it's time to paint the town red." He drew his sword. "Loz, Yazoo, take care of the extras, I'll take of us."

And then all around her, Yuffie saw the battle start, and damned if she would be left out. Cloud went straight for Second Kadaj, impossible sword drawn before the remnant could open his mouth to mock. Second Loz went straight for Tifa as if he'd known he would all along, but the original Loz was there, despite his condition, to pull her away from a hit she didn't see coming from behind.

Having missed with a hefty blow, the time it took to recover was all the time Rude needed to get a blow in before he could rise up and start after Tifa again. Turning in dark fall of hair, Tifa came forward and grabbed Yuffie by the arm.

"I don't think we have to worry about the Turks now. I'm going to go for…" original Loz came up beside Tifa.

"Loz." He said. And Tifa nodded, remembered a time before when he had thrown her around in Aerith's church. He was much skinnier now, but his eyes were the same. Young.

"Loz. We're going after Loz. If we team up and bring them down together we'll have a better chance." And so they all went after the second Loz, and though their numbers were an advantage, he was a behemoth of a man and Tifa was the only who could get effective hits in. Yuffie's hits weren't super powerful and original Loz was in the worst shape out of all of them.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Tseng cast Lightening at Second Yazoo, who shot a round at Elena, and swung the long barrel of his gun into Reno's jaw.

"I hoped I'd see you again motherfucker." Reno said, and Tseng glared at him, while Elena looked uncharacteristically shaken, more especially when she stumbled into the original Yazoo, who glanced once at her and aimed and cocked his fun at his own doppelganger. Seeing both Yazoo's Reno gave pause.

"Or was it you, pretty sure it was you." He said brandishing his electro mag at the original Yazoo.

"I'm not your enemy right now, it would be best you to focus on the task at hand." Yazoo said, and Reno sneered.

"Really, like beating your ass?" Reno said and Yazoo scowled.

"If you can." He replied.

"You sick bastard, I'll make you pay for what you did to Lena and Tseng." Reno said, closing in on him.

"That's enough!' Tseng interjected. Both original Yazoo and Reno turned intime to see a bullet graze his shoulder. Tseng fell to his knees and Elena seemed to find the nerve then, and she cast a bright rain of lightening.

Vincent was there in a streak of red to catch Second Yazoo with a cold barrel to the neck, as he recovered from the lightening cast. Both Barrett and Cid were teaming up in Loz.

Farther off in the distance, Cloud and Kadaj were fighting Second Kadaj, who was fending them off with an unearthly amount of dexterity. Yuffie could see that Cloud was still keeping an eye on the original remnant, but occasionally would block a strike that was meant to fatally injure the other silver haired boy. But Kadaj, was solely focused on killing his doppelganger, as if the eerie replication of his face and mannerisms was some sort of personal offense.

Above them in the sky the bright circle was widening, and Second Yazoo fell to the ground in a cloud of gun smoke and a blaze of electricity. Vincent, Reno, original Yazoo, Tseng and Elena stood around the remnant and looked forward to Cloud and Kadaj's fight.

But in that moment, Second Kadaj seemed to see them too, and his fallen brother. His scowl was visible when from where Yuffie stood. As the circle crackled with energy overhead, Loz fell to the ground under the spark of Tifa's punch, Rudes own force and Cid's spear through his shoulder. Barrett's gun arm was still spinning. Both Loz and Yazoo duplicated disintegrated into mere dust.

"Flimsy copies." Rude said, earning looks from everyone around him. Cid raised an eyebrow.

"You talk?"

With the two brothers gone, everyone looked up ahead to were Cloud and Kadaj fought Kadaj.

"Tell me how you exist!" Kadaj said parrying a strike, and watching as Cloud knocked him sideways.

"Just like you do brother."

"You, are _not _my brother."

"I came from Sephroth's remains just as you did." He smiled. "Come on, you didn't think Sephroth would just lock himself in a materia without an enacting agent?" The duplicate said, and Kadaj stopped. Cloud looked at him.

"What is he saying?" Cloud asked, face dark. Kadaj turned to face the man who he'd called brother so long ago.

"It's going to happen like last time, he's coming." And Cloud didn't have to ask who, because the duplicate, seeing his desperate situation pulled out the glowing materia. The circle in the sky spun down to a shining point and the duplicate was heading towards it with the materia in his hand.

Yuffie had never heard the kind of silence that followed. She wanted more than anything to break it with some kind of joke, but looking around her, she figured it was kind of a bad idea. They all watched as the duplicate rose until he was fixed in that shining point, like a star. Suddenly the materia came falling down from the sky, still a roiling green and black. It fell right at her sneakers.

But as Yuffie bent down to pick it up, the sky _exploded. _There were blues and green and even pinks, dust and smoke like glitter and among it all was the black shape they were all looking at. And down like an angel, came Sephiroth.

"Holy hell. Say what you want, but_ he_ knows how to make a fuckin' entrance." Reno said, looking up. Half of the people glared, half nodded dumbly.

"Now this is a proper welcome." Sephiroth said as some of the crowd backed away, experiencing whatever emotion they associated with the Ex-general. Surely there were many.

Farther off, Kadaj looked on, unsure of what to do. There was Sephiroth again. After so long of existing as a voice in his head, here he was again. No mental push, no thing he could physically with his own hands would make him go away. What would? _What?_ Cloud turned to him.

"I may not completely understand how or why this is," Cloud sheathed his sword. "But something's obvious here."

"What is that?"

"This is your fight." Cloud said and Kadaj looked on at the shining vision of the General.

"How do you kill a thing that cannot die?"

"I couldn't say. But I think that he can die, he just refuses to realize it. I think it's his pride that brings him back." Cloud said and Kadaj turned to regards him. "So you have to be different. Somehow, you have to become more than he is."

"More."

"Find something that gives you purpose," Cloud said, looking over at the crowd gathered, "and you have to realize that you are also less."

And Kadaj found four particular faces in the crowd.

"I…understand." With that he was off, running towards the crowd. Yuffie saw him coming, and almost instinctually cast with her Time materia. Everyone around them froze, and only Kadaj was moving through the crowd, heading fast towards her. When he reached her, they finally stood toe to toe.

"I need the materia." He said, and she handed it over without thought because she knew he level on the Time cast wasn't high enough to keep them all frozen for much longer.

"What're you gonna do?" she said and he looked so certain.

"The sum is always greater than its parts Yuffie." She blinked.

"What? What are you talking about!?"

"This is it, I've found it."

"Found what?"

"My purpose." He said, breathlessly with his eyes so bright and she could feel that something big was about to happen, and so she just threw her arms around him, and he knew then that she knew too. He held her, like he'd never held anything, and when he closed his eyes there was complete and utter silence in his head, so stark and right he could only hear her breathing.

He knew that he would do whatever he had to, to keep her breathing.

And then when her cast wore off Sephiroth was advancing on them and Kadaj started off towards his broken brothers, the original remnants. They stood together and she watched as Kadaj spoke to them. Whatever he said made them both step in towards him and Sephiroth, whose pride and appetite for games was perhaps the biggest flaw, watched on, amused. Kadaj lifted the materia skywards.

Then, in an even brighter burst of light than Yuffie remembered from the Kadaj duplicate's transformation into Sephiroth, there was another Sephiroth standing where the three remnants had been.

This man was very clearly Sephiroth and yet his hair wasn't as lustrous, face not as smooth. He had no billowing coat, but long burns on his arms, a jagged scar down his side and one across his stomach. The prior Sephiroth looked utterly shocked, and sneered, drawing his sword.

"A pretty trick, and only that." He said, and the other Sephiroth said nothing, only rushed forward, not with Masamune but Loz's Dual Hound. Swings were deflected, and the first Sephiroth gained the advantage the fastest. They all watched from the ground in awe, unable to truly follow the movements of the two silver haired men.

The brother's Sephiroth was able to defend very well, but it seemed as if all of the laughter had been ripped from the proud original General, who seemed enraged at the paltry emulation. He was clearly determined now to strike this false Sephiroth down, quickly and violently.

But what the brother's Sephiroth lacked in power, they had in guile, likely a result of the merging of all three minds. The moment the original General went to mock, a telling sign of the Kadaj duplicate's major influence, the brother's Sephiroth delivered a powerful electric blow.

It was then that the sky went dark, and the original Sephiroth struck back so hard the brother's Sephiroth went reeling back far enough that it allowed time for Sephiroth to drive Masamune right through the other's heart.

The crowd watched with bated breath and waited for the brother's Sephiroth to fall, but instead…only Loz came falling from the sky. When he hit the ground, it was with an accompanying crack that every one of them heard. He lied there, officially broken. Yuffie thought to run to him, but before she could his body was disintegrating too, and she and everyone else stood shocked, as he disappeared into his own bright lift energy.

Both Sephiroth's rode the invisible current of the night air, looking down at what had just happened. The Brother's Sephiroth did not lose shape, but everyone watching seemed to understand what it meant. That it was only two brother's maintaining the form now, and that depending on the fatality of the blow, they could both be torn from the form.

Yuffie knew what it meant.

Sephiroth smirked.

"Have you realized that it's over yet?"

The other Sephiroth was still looking to where Loz had died. He said nothing, only hoisted Yazoo's Velvet Nightmare up and cocked it. The original Sephiroth only laughed but was quickly shut up when the barrel was thrown against his face. Masamune came out again, but this time the brother's Sephiroth could afford the space and moved farther away in better range to shoot. The first shot grazed a shoulder, the second was dead in the heart.

Tit for tat.

The original Sephiroth keeled, swept out madly with the long blade, as he swept over in a flash of silver.

"You won't make me look like a fool." He said, and this was the only time there was any semblance of a smile on the brother's Sephiroth's face. But he still kept that eerie silence, the very hallmark of the middle brother. But it was a smile with a cost, because the original Sephiroth had gotten close enough to knock the gun from his hands. When it when sailing down to the ground, the brother's Sephiroth tried to land a physical hit but it was too late and this time when Masamune went through the heart, Sephiroth twisted the blade.

Yazoo came sailing down towards the ground. The Brother's Sephiroth still kept the form, and only glanced once at the falling brother before he turned back to face the original Sephiroth.

"Now we're the same." The original Sephroth said.

"No, we will _never _be the same."

"Really Kadaj? Tell me, is it lonely in there? Do you think now about all of the things you failed to achieve, reunion, _mother? _Do you see now what real power is, what _fear_ is?"

"I want none of it, Sephiroth. Not the power you so often chase, not your ideas of family, not mother, and I've known fear long enough. In the form of your voice in my head, and in the form of a mother's love always out of reach. I don't want it anymore. I don't…need it anymore."

"And what will you have then, what will you be?" This was the same question Sephiroth had asked him before. The one he hadn't had the answer for. Sephiroth was the embodiment of all the power, pain and potential he only just barely skimmed the surface of. But he was also the same as he always was, playing the same games, working towards the same ends. Sephiroth, the golden brother he'd never been able to match, was shackled, limited. A delusional slave. And then Kadaj knew his answer, that now he was…

"Free. I'll be free." With that, he tightened his grip on Souba and thrust it into Sephiroth cold, persistent heart. He had used Sephiroth's moment of incomprehension to his advantage, but in terms of who was driving both General's minds there were very much the same. The original Sephiroth had used the time they were talking to cast his own spell. Even as the Brother's Sephiroth was twisting Souba deep into Sephiroth heart, his own energy was draining at an alarming rate, so much so that he could barely hold onto the hilt.

But he held on and he twisted, until he saw that tell tale life energy. And as he delivered the last fatal twist, Masamune came down one more time and slide through his own heart.

This time, both men came falling back to the ground. Halfway to the ground, Kadaj had turned back and when he hit the ground Yuffie was there, kneeling by his side. He was bloody, broken, and she knew from the green light, beyond repair. She didn't even care to know what had happened to the original Sephiroth, but she could see that by the cloud of black energy, that he was already gone.

Kadaj opened his eyes and looked up at her, and she saw nothing else. Not everyone watching them, not the night sky, nothing. Just him. She leaned her head into his bloody chest, and tried not to cry. She failed, but didn't really care if anyone saw anyway. There were tears and blood on her face.

"I told you so many times to go away, and you never listened." He said, and she inhaled sharply.

"Yeah, and that's why…" she wiped at her eyes, "That's why you can't go, Kadaj _please_…" He shook his head.

"You're so…stubborn." She laughed through her tears.

"Yeah, everyone says I never know when to give it up." She tried not to weep too hard, but his body was already dissolving under her fingers. He closed his eyes. "Don't forget me okay?" she breathed, and he opened his eyes again, and looked at her. Looked at her for a long time. It felt as potent as the first time he'd ever turned his eyes on her, and she shook as brown met green for the last time.

She saw everything she ever need to see there, all the words he'd never spoken, prevented by pride or lack of understanding, all the words he'd meant to say but hadn't had the chance or time, and all the things he'd ever said that meant other things, or meant exactly what they meant.

It was enough. And when he closed his eyes this time, he didn't open them again and she leaned down in the warm place where his body had been, she cried all the tears she had managed to hold back all those times he was cruel, when she knew that he had her heart and didn't want it.

She cried happy bitter tears for him and his found purpose, and the one time he'd touched her with tenderness, let her know in his own biting words, that she had his heart as well.

It was enough.

She knew that he had done the best thing, but she was great ninja Yuffie, princess of Wutai and she was selfish. The safety of the planet was an insignificant thing, in the wake of what she'd had, even as her friends came to hold her and pick her up and tell her that it was a noble thing. Yes, she'd known it was. She known him as he was alive, watched in awe at his stark metamorphosis. She was sure he would remember her, but…

That just wasn't quite enough.

**The End.**

A/N: So, there it is. I really, really, hope you all liked it, because I felt that this was the best way to end it. I had given up on this so many times, but then I'd keep on getting encouragement from you guys. Seriously, you all have been _so awesome, _after a while I knew I had to finish this up. I really can't rave about you guys enough. And I really wanted to make this worthy of the ridiculously long wait. I'm so sorry. But unfortunately this might be it from me, it was an amazing run, but it seems I've fallen out of this fandom. It makes me sad, and I'll miss it, but I'm just not as in love as I used to be. But I knew I couldn't just leave these loose ends when we were so close! Again you guys are amazing, and this time I won't see you later. XD Take care of yourselves!


End file.
